


take a dive (into my heart)

by arrum_rose



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Family Dinners, Awkward Flirting, Ben is a soft boy, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff and Angst, HEA, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Loss of Virginity, Sexual Tension, Snoke Being a Dick, Swim Team, Underage Drinking, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Virgin Ben Solo, Virgin Rey (Star Wars), ben is an idiot, competitive swimming, summer loving
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:08:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24869674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arrum_rose/pseuds/arrum_rose
Summary: Rey despises Ben Solo. He's cocky, arrogant, and he always seems to know exactly how to push her buttons. She hates his stupid hair and his stupid smile, and she especially hates the way he looks in a swimsuit. If she had it her way, she wouldn't have to see him, ever.What happens when his summer pool gets closed and they have to merge with her team? Will she survive swimming and coaching with him for a whole summer?(The answer: Probably not)
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 66
Kudos: 99
Collections: Reylo Prompt Fills (@reylo_prompts)





	1. splish splash

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO LOVELIES!!! It has been a WHILE since I posted anything on here, but things have been super crazy at my house. 
> 
> I am not abandoning "nox aurumque", but I've been having trouble with it lately so I am taking a break from it and focusing on some of the other ideas I have. 
> 
> Special thanks to my beta writer Lynn (@areyofsunshine)- my love for you is IMMENSE! 
> 
> This is a special dedication to swimming. I have been a swim coach since I was 14, and I have been swimming since I was 4, so this was something I needed to write about. When a prompt came up on @reylo_prompts on twitter I had no other excuses, and thus this was born. 
> 
> In classic Kailee fashion, I also have a playlist for this fic which you can find here: [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2F5e1k7PLFIrblgoA1BKSv?si=5kxL32OdR1erbFL__vI8CQ)

Rey’s blood spiked with adrenaline as she stepped closer to the diving block. She closed her eyes and imagined she was alone, like there was no one else watching her race. All she had to do was dive in and swim, just like she had been training to do. Racing didn’t get any less nerve-wracking, no matter how many times she had done it. 

Breath in. Breathe out. Repeat. 

She just had to wait for the heat in front of her to finish, and then it would be her turn. Her last event of the day was a 400 meter freestyle swim. Rey had done it a million times before in practice, and all she wanted to do today was beat her previous record. She could care less about her competition; at this point she just had to focus on herself. 

Shake out your legs. Don’t let your muscles tense up. 

They were on the last lap of the race, and Rey began to shake out her whole body in preparation for the race ahead of her. She snapped her goggles into place over her eyes and crossed her left arm across her body, placing her left arm over her elbow to stretch her shoulder one last time. 

Envision the end goal. Don’t think about the timers or officials. Focus. 

The previous heat had finished their race, and she was stepping onto the block, prepping her body for the impending rush of cold water. Her heart was beating out of her chest> It was so loud she was scared that the girl in the pool below her could hear it. She bent down and stepped her right foot back, waiting for the familiar robotic sound of the timer to sound out. 

“Take your marks…” 

Rey grabbed the lip of the block and tensed her body, lifting her hips into the air behind her as high as she could. 

Breathe in. Breathe out. 

At the sound of the buzzer, she sprung forward and off the block, arching gracefully and diving into the water in front of her. 

__________________

As she was walking back to the little corner that she and her friends had claimed before the meet, Rey spotted Kaydel and Jannah rushing over to her. 

“Rey, that was amazing! You made that 400 look so easy!” Kaydel was beaming and crushing Rey against her in a hug. 

Rey laughed at her friend’s enthusiasm and hugged her back. 

Jannah stood back and smiled at the two of them. When Kaydel finally let Rey go, Jannah came over to give Rey a short hug as well. “Finn wanted to come and congratulate you too but he had to go get ready for his race. That was a new record, right? How much time did you drop?” 

Rey beamed at them and placed her hands on her hips. “Five seconds!” 

Kaydel’s jaw dropped in an almost comical way. “Five seconds?! That’s incredible! They’ll have to let you into NTG now!” 

Rey’s hands dropped and her shoulders drooped a little. “No, probably not. Snoke really hates me, he would never let me into his group.” 

“That’s his loss, then. Snoke’s an ass anyways, Rey, so I wouldn’t sweat it.” Jannah said encouragingly. 

Kaydel nodded “Yeah! Plus, you’re faster than a lot of the jerks there anyways.” 

Then, like some kind of demonic summoning, Ben Solo and his NTG friends walked past the trio of girls standing near their corner of the deck. 

Rose, who was the only one of Solo’s friends that Rey had ever talked to other than the devil himself, stopped to give Rey a high five. She and Rey were friendly, but not very close. She was the only one among Solo’s friends that was in Advanced Seniors instead of NTG, and Rey wasn't really sure how or why the two of them were friends. “Hey Rey! Nice race there! I bet if you and Ben raced you’d give him a run for his money.” The smaller girl beamed at her and Rey smiled back. 

“Thanks, Rose!” Rey exclaimed, and then she leaned in closer in mock privacy, knowing fully well that Ben could hear her. “And for the record, Solo only doesn’t wanna race me ‘cause he knows he would lose.” 

Ben scoffed at that and turned his full attention to her. “For the record, Niima, I don’t want to race you because I know I would embarrass you. For as much smack that you talk I’ve very rarely seen you walk the walk.” He stepped closer to her, invading her personal space as he bent down slightly and forcing Rose to move away to avoid the tense encounter. 

“Five seconds off a 400 isn’t that impressive.” He smirked at her in that signature cocky Ben Solo way and stepped back from her. “But if you really want to impress me that badly, I’d gladly meet you after practice next week so we can finally settle the score. I’ll even let you pick the stroke. I’m particularly fond of breastroke, but I’d make an exception for you.” 

He narrowed his eyes slightly and crossed his large muscled arms over his broad chest. “Or maybe you’d like it more if we had a private lesson. I know Luke’s trying his best, but I think you need a better coach, Niima. I could teach you a thing or two.” 

Now it was Rey’s turn to scoff. “In your dreams, Solo. You couldn’t get me alone in a pool with you if you paid me.” She was blushing, she could feel it, but she didn’t care. He always managed to fluster her so easily with just a few words and it aggravated her. 

Ben continued to smirk at her, but it changed to a slight scowl the longer he looked at her. “Whatever. You know where to find me if you change your mind. But don’t bother whining to me if we beat you guys at divisionals because you couldn’t keep up.” 

He, Rose, Hux and Phasma walked off after that, laughing and joking with each other the whole way back to their bags, leaving Rey fuming while Kaydel and Jannah looked at her in confusion. 

“Uh, Rey? Since when did Ben Solo start flirting with you? I thought you guys hated each other.” Jannah questioned. 

Rey looked back to her friends and sighed. “That wasn’t flirting, trust me. He just likes to push my buttons, and he knows exactly how to do it.”

“He’s an asshole,” Kaydel chimed in, “don’t let him get to you. It only makes him feel superior, and he doesn’t need a bigger head than he already has.” 

“On the bright side, you won’t have to see him at all this summer since NTG and Advanced Seniors practices don’t overlap at all.” Jannah tried to be optimistic, and Rey appreciated it, but it still didn’t help the fact that Ben Solo managed to weave himself into her life at every opportunity. 

Rey huffed. “I wish that were the case, but Leia and Han have started inviting Maz and me over for Friday night dinners more regularly, and I have a feeling that’ll continue through this summer.”

She glanced back towards the spot that Solo and his friends had taken over on deck and scowled. “I don’t know how he turned out so awful when his parents are so nice.” Ben’s head snapped up and he caught her glaring at him, so she quickly turned her attention back to her friends, already feeling her blush creeping back up. “It doesn’t matter. I can ignore him at dinners like I always have and I can make it through this summer.” 

That was what she would tell herself. She would limit her interaction with him to simple greetings, and she wouldn’t let herself get caught up in his bullshit. 

“Well, if push comes to shove you could always kick him where it hurts. That would definitely shut him up.” Kaydel piped up. 

At that, Rey and her friends all burst into a giggle fit and went to pack their swim bags, getting ready to go home once Finn’s race was over. 

As she packed her bag, Rey’s mind kept racing from what Solo had said to her earlier about giving her private lessons. She mentally chastised herself for giving the idea even slight consideration. 

I hate him. I hate his guts. He’s an arse and he doesn’t deserve my attention. 

When Finn walked over to them, dripping wet and still panting from his 400 IM, Rey pushed thoughts of Ben Solo and his stupid smirk from her mind by distracting herself and greeting her friend with rounds of wet hugs and cheers. 

____________

A little less than a week after the meet, Rey was sitting in the cafeteria at school, reading the latest edition of her favorite series “The Galaxy Chronicles” when Finn and Kaydel plopped down in front of her with their eyes nearly bulging out of their heads. 

“Rey! Did you hear the news?” Finn burst out, interrupting a very intense battle scene between the two main characters. 

Rey begrudgingly looked up at her friends and sighed. “If it’s about Snap’s nudes being sent around school, I’ve already heard about it and I don’t want to hear it again.” 

“No, Rey. This isn’t about Snap’s pinky sized dick, that’s old news. It’s about Chandrila Manor.” Kaydel was buzzing with excitement at this point. 

Rey’s brow furrowed. “Okay...then what is it?” 

Kaydel beamed and Finn frowned slightly. 

“The earthquake from last night wrecked their pool. There’s trees and debris everywhere, the guard house and the bathhouse are destroyed, and the deck is cracked all over the place. I even heard some of the pipes burst.” Finn explained. 

Rey’s eyes widened in shock. “What?!” 

Kaydel nodded, “I heard that they won’t be able to have a season this summer. Isn’t that great?” 

Rey thought about it for a second and shook her head. “I mean, it’s partly karma I guess since most of the people who go there are pompous assholes, but I do feel bad for some of the people who go there. Leia is the pool board president for them so I’m sure she’s super stressed about it. I don’t know I’m kind of torn about this. I was looking forward to kicking their butts this year at divisionals, but it’s less time that I have to see Ben Solo around.” 

“I feel bad for Poe, it was his last summer to swim and now he can’t” Finn cast his gaze downwards. 

“Poe? Isn’t that Solo’s friend?” Rey asked. 

“Yeah, they’ve known each other forever,” Finn replied, “and even if I think Ben deserves it, I do feel a little bad for him. And for Rose too! She swims for them.” 

Kaydel shrugged. “It sucks, but they’ll still have year-round training over the summer. First Order isn’t closing down any time soon.” 

“Summer swim team is different, Kay. It’s more...magical. I don’t know what I would do without summer swimming.” Rey looked at her friend and smiled. “For one, I wouldn’t have been friends with you guys if we hadn’t been swimming together in the summer.” 

Finn let out a small laugh. “Rey, I can assure you that I still would’ve been friends with you even if we didn’t swim together. I’m not sure I would’ve made it through middle and high school without you.” 

Kaydel pinched him lightly. “Hey, what about me and Jannah? We were there for you too.” 

“Of course you guys were! But Rey was the mysterious foreign new girl and no one messed with her, so having her on my side was a huge advantage.” He pursed his lips at the memories.”I needed someone to help protect me back then.” 

Rey took one of his hands in her own. “Don’t worry about that anymore, Finn. You’re okay now. No one is going to hurt you ever again.” 

He nodded and looked to his two friends with a small smile of gratitude planted on his face. 

“Where’s Jannah, by the way? I haven’t seen her all day.” Rey asked her friends, trying to change the subject to something lighter.

“She’s visiting a college today- I think it’s Chandrila University, but she’ll be back tomorrow.” Kaydel offered. “She still hasn’t made a decision on where she wants to go next year.”

“We only have a week until decision day. That’s cutting it pretty close.” Finn said nervously. 

Kaydel shrugged. “You know Jannah, she likes to weigh her options completely before making decisions. I think she’s physically incapable of being impulsive.” She smirked and turned to Finn, placing her elbow on the table as she rested her chin in her palm. “Also, Mr. Finn Storm, don’t think you’re getting out of this Poe conversation that easily. Since when were you two friends?”

Finn blushed slightly and turned his gaze to the ceiling. “Well, one time after one of our practices, I forgot my goggles in the locker room and had to run back and get it. NTG had just gotten out, so Poe was in the locker room with Ben and Hux, and Poe just happened to be changing next to where my goggles were so we started talking.” 

“OMG, when did this happen?” Kaydel prodded. 

“Like, a few months ago, I think?” 

“Have you guys been talking since then?” Rey asked, now curious about Finn’s connection to one of Solo’s packmates (because in her mind, anyone who hung out with Ben Solo was akin to a wolf, or at least some kind of predator, with the exception of Rose). 

“I mean, yeah. We exchanged numbers and added each other on Snapchat so we’ve gotten close-ish.” Finn was blushing and trying to hide his face, and that’s when it dawned on Rey. 

Kaydel seemed to have come to the same conclusion because she gasped and smacked both of her hands down on the table. “OMG, Finn, do you have a crush on him?”

His eyes shot out of his skull as he looked up at his friends. “W-what? No-no, that’s ridiculous. I don’t have a crush on Poe.” 

“Yeah, sure, okay. Whatever you want to believe dude.” Rey smirked at him. “Just don’t bring any of his friends around and we’ll be peachy.” 

Finn continued to try and deny his feelings for Poe, but eventually the topic was dropped. Rey and Kaydel would make Finn think that they had forgotten about this, but a side-glance at Kaydel was all the confirmation Rey needed to know that the other girl was already plotting something in her head. She had no doubt that she would be dragged into a scheme to get the two boys together at some point soon, but for now they would stay silent on the matter. 

Rey and her friends spent the rest of their lunch period talking and laughing. She tried her best to get her mind off of the fact that Ben Solo wouldn’t be swimming that summer, because that meant she wouldn’t see him at any meets. She definitely didn’t dwell on why she was disappointed by that fact, and she focused on her friends and the easy banter between the three of them up until the bell rang. 

______________

Rey didn’t interact with Ben Solo again until mid May. It was two weeks until the summer swim team season was supposed to start, and Luke had finally convinced her to come to family dinner night at the Organa-Solo house again. She had been avoiding them for...reasons. Reasons that had absolutely everything to do with Han and Leia’s infuriating son. 

She loved Han and Leia dearly, and she wished she had the emotional capacity to be able to come over more often, but unfortunately their son was a grade-A asshole who she was very happy to avoid interacting with. 

Rey hadn’t planned on going to their weekly family dinner that night, but Luke had guilt tripped her by telling her how much Han and Leia missed her and Maz. Thus, she found herself at the dining room table of the Organa-Solo house, seated across from the king of assholes himself. 

Leia was still finishing up dinner in the kitchen with Han and Maz, and Luke was off raiding the liquor cabinet, leaving Rey alone with the one person she despised most. She tried her best to keep her attention on anything and everything except him, but it was growing incredibly difficult to ignore the fact that he was staring her down like a predator stalking its prey. 

She slipped up and allowed herself to glance at him, and they locked eyes. Rey never made a habit of looking at Ben’s eyes. She knew how dangerous it was. They were amber in color, with light honey flecks of gold scattered around the irises. If she didn’t know exactly who those eyes belonged to, she might even call them beautiful. Despite herself, she couldn’t seem to look away. For a solid minute or so, neither of them spoke, and strangely, Rey didn’t feel uncomfortable in the silence that settled over the two of them at all. Some sort of trance had been cast on her, and she didn’t have any desire to break it. 

The moment was gone as soon as Luke walked back into the room, glass of whiskey in hand. Rey quickly averted her eyes from him and directed her attention to her coach instead. “You kids are awfully quiet. What, nothing to argue about now that you have a week off from swimming?” He chuckled lightly and sat beside Rey in the empty seat to her left. 

Ben huffed in annoyance at his uncle’s attempts at small talk. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Luke. I don’t fight with Niima. She fights with me.”

“I do not! I try to avoid you, you ass.” Rey was fuming slightly already. It wasn’t fair that he knew how to push her over the edge so easily. Practically everything he said annoyed her, simply because it was him. Ben Solo with his full lips and long hair that both looked so soft. His annoyingly large body invaded her space, and he didn’t even have to try. Okay, yes, he was attractive. She couldn’t deny that fact when he made her libido go haywire with a simple smirk. 

What annoyed her most about him, though, was his smugness. He had loving parents who were well off and gave him anything he wanted, and yet he was still an asshole to them despite it all. She knew that she could never act on any urges with him because it would just be another thing to boost his ego. That, and she was sure that even if he was attracted to her, which she wasn’t so sure about, he would just use her and leave her, just like everyone did. He would get what he wanted from her and leave. Or worse, he would find out that she’s not worth his time or effort, and the same outcome would occur. 

She had enough nightmares and anxieties about people leaving her as it was, and she didn’t need to fuel that fire by getting involved with Ben Solo and inevitably getting hurt. 

“I regret saying anything.” Luke grumbled over the rim of his glass. They heard some shuffling in the kitchen, and Luke gave both of them a pointed look. “Be nice please. Leia has been looking forward to tonight, so please try to pretend like you can tolerate each other.” 

Rey huffed and casted her eyes downwards. “I’ll be nice if he behaves.” 

To his credit, Ben didn’t respond to that. He barely even glanced at her. Apparently he was heeding Luke’s warning more seriously than she was. 

A few minutes later, Leia, Han and Maz emerged from the kitchen with all different kinds of dishes, setting them down at the center of the table. “Alrighty! It’s time to eat. Let’s dig in!”

Everyone situated themselves at the table and started serving themselves from the plethora of food that Leia, Han and Maz had made. 

Rey ate in relative silence, allowing Leia to dominate the conversation and trying her best to avoid looking at Ben. She was doing well, only piping up when someone asked her a question, but she still managed to avoid his gaze, until Leia mentioned the summer season for Chandrila Manor. 

“I feel really bad for all of the kids who won’t get to swim this summer.” Rey offered. “Especially the seniors who can’t come back to swim next year.” 

Ben was staring at her now, she could feel it, but she refused to turn to look at him or squirm in her seat, knowing that any sort of reaction would just encourage him. She kept her gaze trained on Leia and Han. 

“About that…” Luke said, apprehension leaking through his tone, “Chandrila Manor is actually getting a season. They’re going to be merging with another team for the summer.” 

Leia smiled and looked at Rey. “We’re going to be seeing a lot more of you this summer, Rey!” 

Rey felt a sinking feeling in her gut as her brain started to connect the dots. “Wait, are we hosting them? At Naboo Woods?” 

Luke nodded. “It was all finalized today. Ackbar and Leia had a meeting with Holdo and I today to figure out the best course of action. We’re going to be running combined practices and we will be co-head coaches for the summer. We’re combining our staff as well. So Rey and Ben, you two will be working together as assistant coaches.” 

She knew she was gaping, but she didn’t really care all that much. Rey finally looked over at Ben, who appeared to be just as shocked as she felt. “What?”

Ben let out a sigh, in disbelief, and for the first time that night he looked away from her. “That’s just great.” 

On top of finding out just how much time she would be spending with Ben Solo that summer, Rey now had to deal with his stellar attitude about the whole situation. She had just about had it with Ben freaking Solo. 

“We know it’s not ideal, but it’s the best solution we could come up with.” Leia offered, trying to soothe the situation. 

Han chipped in to help bring the tense aura of the room down. “Hey kids, you never know. Maybe this’ll be the best summer you two have had yet.” 

“The more swimmers the merrier, as I always say.” Luke said, ignoring the fumes of annoyance coming off of Rey and Ben. 

The rest of dinner was spent in silence. Both Rey and Ben avoided looking at one another, and Rey was perfectly okay with that. She tried her best to get his stupidly attractive face out of her head and focused on how pissed she was at the prospect of having to see that stupid face every day of the summer. 

She really didn’t know how she was going to survive the next three months.


	2. rocky waters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A first practice and a truce.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Playlist: [take a dive](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2F5e1k7PLFIrblgoA1BKSv)
> 
> Extra special thank you to Lynn for beta'ing this fic, you have my heart. 
> 
> I forgot to put this in the last chapter, but I am including a mini glossary/guide to swimming terminology for anyone who isn't familiar. Even if you are, I'm basing this fic on my local swim club and our summer league, so it might be good to take a look at if you're confused. Those will all be in the end notes!
> 
> Look at this moodboard by Elory! It's so beautiful I could cry. I'm linking her twitter in the end notes :)
> 
> Also look at this moodboard by Lynn! One of my favorite people ever and she gifted me this, I am unworthy. (Her twitter is linked too).

Rey loved the water. It was a surprising tidbit considering she grew up in the desert. She hadn’t learned how to swim until she was nine, but that didn’t stop her from swimming competitively. Even the mere sight of a pool made her excited, and normally it brought her a lot of joy to be at a swim practice. 

At this moment, however, she did not feel as excited as she should’ve been.

It was supposed to be a good summer for her. She had one more year to swim for Naboo Woods, and this year she was going to be an assistant coach for the team. All of her friends would be swimming and graduating with her. She should’ve been happy to be at the pool. Unfortunately, Ben Solo had to swoop in and ruin all of that for her. 

It was the first day of summer swim team practice. Rey had spent the weekend celebrating Memorial Day with Maz, Finn and Finn’s foster dads. She had been having so much fun that she _almost_ forgot about the impending doom that was working and swimming with Ben Solo. The keyword being _almost._

Soon after the excitement of summer beginning and finally being done with highschool, however, Rey had to face the reality that she would be spending her last summer at Naboo Woods trying to stop herself from chewing Solo’s stupid face off. 

The first practice of the season was the Tuesday after Memorial Day, and things had started out fine. The first session was with all older kids, so Luke and Holdo took charge for the most part, delegating certain lanes to the other older coaches while Ben and Rey hopped around wherever they were needed. 

The second session was also relatively easy, but since there were more kids, each lane had their own coach. Rey was assigned to a group of 11-12 year olds, who were a mix of Chandrila kids that she didn’t know and Naboo kids whom she had seen growing up at the pool every summer. They were all pretty fast and listened to her well, so from what Rey could tell, Luke had given her one of the more advanced lanes. She assumed most of them swam all year-round, but she wasn’t sure. 

Shit hit the fan when the third session rolled around. It was the youngest group of kids, and the biggest group of kids. For some odd reason, Luke and Holdo decided to assign Rey and Ben to coach two of the lanes of 8 & under kids together. At first things were okay. The kids in these lanes were definitely less advanced than some of the other kids in their age group, so most of the drills they were given were foundational. 

At around the half hour mark of the hour long practice, one of the girls in their group, a five year old named Kira, asked to go to the bathroom and Rey let her go. While the kids were swimming a lap across, Ben approached Rey looking annoyed. 

“Why did you let Kira go to the bathroom? I already sent Liam to the bathroom.” He was scowling slightly at her. 

Rey looked at him incredulously, a bit baffled at his reaction to such a small thing. “Because she had to go? I didn’t know you had a one kid in the bathroom at a time rule.” 

“Well, yeah. It makes it easier to keep track of them.” 

Rey scoffed, “It’s just two kids, Solo. It’s nothing we can’t handle.” She started walking down the deck to meet the kids on the other side and he followed her. 

“If you keep saying yes to bathroom breaks, all the kids will want to go. They’ll take advantage of you.” Ben sighed. 

“I highly doubt that a bunch of 5 to 8 year olds have enough cognitive ability to learn how to manipulate me. Besides, Kira is a good kid. I’ve known her since she was a baby. She wouldn’t use a bathroom break to just skip practice.”

He huffed at her, stopping in his tracks on the deck. “That’s not the point. You need to talk with me before you let kids out of practice.” 

That stopped her, and she turned to look at him. “Are you serious? I don’t need your permission to send a kid to the bathroom! I have just as much authority here as you do, Solo! Don’t act all high and mighty, like you’re above me, because you’re not!”

“I never said I was! I just ask that you try to work with me when we’re assigned to the same group of kids.” 

“Well I never asked to be working with you so just leave me alone!”

At this point, the kids had all made it to the other side and were waiting for their coaches to come and tell them what to do next. Most of them were staring at the scene in front of them, whispering to each other about their two coaches fighting on deck. 

Ben sighed again and pressed the thumb and forefinger of one of his hands into his temples. “Niima, neither of us wanted to have to do this. Do you think coaching and swimming at the same pool as _you_ was really how I wanted to spend my summer? No. It wasn’t. Being around you is…”

Rey felt her face growing hot, and something inside her stung a little as his words sunk in. “It’s what, Solo?”

At this point, most of the other coaches and swimmers had also stopped to stare at Ben and Rey’s little altercation with intense interest. 

He grit his teeth and worked his jaw slightly, hesitating to answer. 

“Please, tell me _exactly_ how you feel! Don’t hold back!”

“Difficult! Being around you is _difficult,_ Niima! You’re just so angry at me all the time, and I don’t know what I did! I’ve tried being friendly, but all you ever do is get annoyed with me!” Ben finally let it all out, and Rey was taken aback at his words, trying to process his outburst and ignore the small sting in her chest. 

Rey huffed and met his intense gaze. “You’ve never once been friendly with me. All you’ve ever been is cocky and annoying and arrogant! All you ever do is push my buttons, Solo! Like all you want to do is annoy the crap out of me!”

To his credit, Ben looked a little embarrassed at her words, but he also looked confused. That annoyed Rey to no end, because she was so sure that he knew what he was doing whenever he said things to mess with her. She was about to rip him a new one when she felt a gruff hand on her shoulder. 

She turned to see Luke, looking thoroughly peeved. “Enough. I want to meet with you two after practice. If you can’t be mature and avoid fighting on deck, then we need to discuss your employment on this team. Go back to coaching your group, and if I hear or see either one of you fighting again I will pull you from coaching right here and now.” 

“Sorry, Luke…” Rey felt like crumpling up into a hole and disappearing out of sheer embarrassment. 

Ben huffed and looked to his uncle. “Won’t happen again.” 

“It better not.” Luke said with a finality to his tone, and then he walked back to his group to continue coaching. 

Rey and Ben walked to the side where their group was waiting, and all of their kids were looking up at them with mixed expressions of awe, fear and confusion. 

“Alright guys! Let’s do a lap of catch-up drill again so we can work on the timing of those arms!” Rey clapped her hands together and looked to her kids, entirely ignoring the incident that had happened less than ten seconds earlier. 

Ben followed her lead and started the kids on their set, but neither of them spoke or so much as looked at each other for the rest of practice. 

Later, once practice had ended, Luke and Holdo gathered all the coaches on deck as the kids were leaving, waving to kids and answering parent questions as they walked out. Once everyone had left, Luke motioned for the coaches to go up to the sitting area, and everyone followed his lead. They all took a seat around a picnic table. Ben sat near one edge of the bench on one side of the table, and Rey plopped herself down at the opposite end of the bench on the other side. 

Bazine, a girl who had graduated from Naboo Woods the year before Rey, sat herself down next to Ben, and another one of the Chandrila coaches, Cassian Andor, sat beside Bazine. Jyn Erso, a girl who graduated from Naboo Woods three years prior, sat beside Rey, across from Cassian, and Jessika Pava, the other Chandrila coach, sat beside Jyn. 

Holdo and Luke stood at one end of the table, close to Rey. Luke had a stern but contemplative look on his face, and Holdo smiled and sighed, looking at the faces of all the coaches. 

“Alrighty everyone, let’s get down to business.” Holdo had an air of authority around her that was a little intimidating, but she also seemed like a very sweet person, so Rey wasn’t quite sure how to feel about her yet. “We apologize that we couldn’t have a formal meeting before the season started, but some of us couldn’t get back from college in time, so we’re going to explain how the season is going to work today.” 

Holdo passed it over to Luke, who cleared his throat lightly before pulling out packets from his bag. “Pass these around and keep them with you this summer just in case you forget any of the things we talk about today.” 

Once everyone had a packet, Holdo gave them each a pen to write notes and Luke began to lecture at them about how the season would run. 

“As you all know, our teams are merged for the summer. This is an unusual case, so we had to work extensively with the county swim team league to figure out how to best approach this. For this summer only, we will be practicing at the same pool and attending the same meets as a joint team. Since Chandrila is practicing at our pool, we will be going by Naboo Woods.” He paused to peer over at everyone’s faces. “With me so far?” 

Everyone nodded silently and he proceeded, “Since our teams were in the same division this year, it makes things easier. For each dual meet we attend, each of our teams will receive the same number of points. So, if we as a combined team win and earn 565 points, our scores on the official league site will be posted as 565. After divisionals, depending on where we rank in the division, we will either both move up, both move down, or both stay the same for next summer. Since we have more kids now, it will be harder to juggle and it will be harder for kids to make it into the A meets, but a little competition never hurt anyone. Any questions?” 

Rey spoke up, “What about the Chandrila vs Naboo dual meet?” 

“Ah yes, good question. For that meet we’re going to have a mock meet here, collect the times, and whichever team’s kids wrack up the most points will determine the score for both teams.” Holdo chimed in. 

“Does that mean we’ll be swimming against each other, but it’s really all for fun?” Cassian added. 

“Sort of. It’ll be the first meet of the season after time trials, but it’ll basically be a trial run. All of the other teams in our division have changed their meet schedules to accommodate us being combined as well, so it should be smooth sailing for the most part.” Luke explained. 

Holdo smiled at the rest of the coaches and laid out the rules for practices and meets while Luke pulled up the schedule for the summer in his packet. 

“Our practice schedule will be pretty normal. Rey and Ben, since you two are still swimming you will be expected to practice with the team once or twice a week on top of attending your club practices, but you will coach the other practices. Since you’ll both be in the A meets on Saturdays, you only need to coach the Wednesday meets. Morning practices start after school ends on June 5th. Time trials are the 6th. Our dual A meets are the following six saturdays after that, and each team we are swimming against is laid out in the calendar in your packets as well as the spirits for those meets. Our first B meet is June 10th and each Wednesday after that, but the last one is on July 15th. Divisionals is July 25th and the banquet is the 26th. Everyone got those dates?” Luke scanned their faces once more as they all nodded. “Good. We have a lot of activities planned for this summer as well to make sure the kids have fun, and the dates for all of those are in the calendar as well.”

Rey looked over her calendar in the packet and her eyes grew wider in delighted surprise. “We’re taking a beach trip with the team?” 

Holdo nodded. “It’s something Chandrila’s been doing for years and we wanted to bring that here. The kids always love it. It’ll be an overnight trip after one of our Saturday meets.”

Rey was buzzing with excitement at this point. The beach trip was a major point of excitement for her, but she also saw some other activities on the list that looked exciting. It was shaping up to be a fun summer, despite the presence of Ben Solo.

No one else had any questions about how the season would work, so Luke dismissed the coaches, but motioned for Ben and Rey to walk with him to a more private area to talk about the earlier incident without snooping ears listening. 

Rey trudged over, following Luke, and Ben loomed after her. 

As soon as they were out of earshot, Luke turned to the two of them and gave them a stern look. “What happened earlier can’t happen again. I understand you two are not the best of friends, but you have to try and get along. You are in a professional setting, and you reflect badly on me, Holdo and the team as a whole when you bicker on deck. Not to mention, it sets a bad example for the kids. I don’t need all of these parents to be even more anal-retentive and snobby with me. I don’t care what happens outside of this pool, but when you are here, even outside of swim team events, you are to be cordial with one another. If it happens again and I see or hear about it, I’m putting you both on suspension. That means no swimming in meets until I say so. Understand?”

Rey nodded and looked down at her feet shamefully and Ben huffed. “Yeah, uncle Luke, I got it.” 

“Rey? Do you understand me?” Luke leaned his head a little to try and look her in the eyes and she lifted her head slowly in defeat. 

“Yes, Luke. I’m sorry. I’ll try to be nicer.” 

“Good. I’m glad we’re all on the same page. You can go now.” Luke motioned for them to leave, and Rey scurried off, trying to have minimal interaction with Solo, and also attempting to hide the embarrassed flush on her cheeks. She didn’t stop until she was in her car, driving home. 

_Worst. Practice. Ever._

  
  


_________________

That Saturday, Rey was hanging out with Jannah and Kaydel at the pool. They had been lounging by the pool since early that afternoon, tanning, reading and talking about whatever came to mind. 

It was late afternoon when Rey was startled from reading by a shadow blocking the sun from her face. She peeked over the edge of her copy of “Galaxy Wars” to see Ben Solo standing in front of her, rubbing his neck nervously. 

“Hey, can we talk?” Ben said quietly as his eyes glanced briefly over to Jannah and Kaydel. “Alone?” 

Rey placed her bookmark in her book (yes of course she used bookmarks, she was not a complete mess) and placed it on the chair beside her. “What about?” 

“The stuff that Luke talked to us about on Tuesday.” 

Rey contemplated it for a moment, and the more she thought about Luke’s words from earlier that week, the more she realized that she would have to talk to him about it eventually. She sighed and got up from her lounge seat, motioning for him to lead the way. As they walked off to the picnic tables, Kaydel and Jannah shot her looks of curiosity and concern, respectively, and Rey just shrugged defeatedly. 

Ben sat down at the picnic table and Rey sat across from him. He stared at her, silently looking over her face with a slight air of nervousness around him. 

She became impatient waiting for him to speak, so she was the first to break the silence. “So, what exactly did you want to talk about?” 

“Oh, right, um…” Solo was blushing slightly, which Rey found extremely odd considering he was usually so cocky and confident around her. Something was off. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I know you hate me, and we don’t get along, but there’s ten weeks in the season and we have to get through them somehow. We’ve only made it through this week because we’ve avoided each other on deck, and don’t deny that you’ve been avoiding me in general because I know you have.” He frowned slightly and cast his gaze down to the table. “You wouldn’t even look at me at dinner last night. I mean, you don’t really look at me anyways, but last night it was painfully obvious.” 

“Please get to the point, Solo.” 

“Right, um. What I’m trying to say is if we want to get through this summer without killing each other, we need to call a truce.” Ben looked at her now, directly into her eyes.

Rey thought over it for a second and nodded. “Yeah, okay. That’s doable.”

Ben licked his lips nervously and held out his hand. “Truce?”

She took his hand and gave it a firm shake, still staring into his eyes. “Truce.” 

They stayed like that for far longer than necessary. For some reason, neither of them wanted to let go. It was as if something was drawing them to each other. Rey felt her heartbeat quicken incrementally, and Ben’s lips parted slightly. She had never noticed it before, but within the amber and gold of his irises there were also hints of rich, deep chocolate brown. His hand was warm and soft against hers, and despite the warning bells going off in her head, Rey couldn’t bring herself to look or pull away from him. 

“Niima, I-” The spell was broken when he opened his mouth to speak. 

Suddenly, she felt as if she had been burned, and she pulled her hand away quickly and turned away from him as she stood up. “I should go, Kaydel and Jannah are waiting for me. Good talk!” She scurried off before he could reply and plopped herself back in her lounge chair next to Kaydel. 

Kaydel and Jannah were looking at her with pique curiosity. “So? How did it go?” Kaydel prodded after a moment. 

“Fine. It was fine.” Rey tried her best to sound nonchalant, but it wasn’t fooling either of them. 

“Is that why you look like you just ran a marathon?” Kaydel quirked her eyebrow, amused by Rey’s flustered state. 

“I do not! It’s just hot is all…” Rey opened her book back up and hid her face behind it. 

“Leave her alone, Kay. Poor girl already had to deal with Ben Solo, let’s not give her a hard time.” Jannah chastised Kaydel lightly. 

“Fine, fine. You’re right.” Kaydel and Jannah went back to the conversation they were having before, and Rey tried her best to get back into her book. 

Unfortunately, all of her thoughts were consumed with Ben Solo and the hand shake moment from before. Why had she felt all tingly inside? Why was his hand so warm and why did it have to be so _big_? Everything was confusing, and she was grateful that Kaydel and Jannah had dropped it, for now. 

She stared at the page in front of her for the next hour, still thinking about Solo’s hands and his eyes and his lips. She was only broken from her reverie when Kaydel asked if she would hop in the pool with her to cool down, and even then, Ben Solo was still in the periphery of her thoughts. 

_________

Around six, Han and Leia showed up to the pool with coolers full of food, some already prepared and some ready to be grilled. Rey was still hanging out with Kaydel and Jannah, and now Finn had come along and was with them as well. 

Leia stopped by her chair to greet her. “Hello Rey, dear! Would you and your friends like to join Han, Luke, Ben and I for dinner? Some of Ben’s friends are joining us as well, and we packed too much food, so it would be very nice to have more people.” 

Rey hesitated for a moment, but after seeing the earnest and kind expression on Leia’s face, she couldn’t help but accept her generous offer. “That’s so sweet of you to offer Leia, I would love to join you guys.” She looked to her three friends beside her. “Do you guys want to join too?” They all gave their enthusiastic agreement, and Leia smiled and pointed out where they would be setting up, telling them to join them in about half an hour. 

“One of Ben’s friends brought a frisbee, so you kids can all go over to the field outside and play a game while we grill. Ben and his friends are by the pool entrance if you want to go and say hi.” Leia smiled kindly and walked off to the table Han and Luke were setting up at. 

The four of them were left sitting and wondering what to do. If they didn’t go to Ben and his friends, that would set a bad impression, but if they did it could end in disaster. 

It was Finn who broke the silence to make a decision. “I say we go and at least say hi! Maybe things will go well and we’ll end up having fun!” 

Kaydel smirked. “You just want to see Poe.” 

Finn gaped at her and blushed. “Kaydel! I told you not to say anything!” 

“We’ve all known you like him for a while now, babe.” Rey patted him on the back lightly in comfort. 

Finn sighed. “Well, cat’s out of the bag.” He perked up a little. “But now that you all know that I like him, can we please go over to play frisbee?” 

Everyone agreed, except for Rey. All eyes were on her as she contemplated what to do. 

“Pretty please, Rey? I don’t want to die gay and alone” Finn pouted and begged. 

“Okay, okay! Fine, we can go say hi and _maybe_ play frisbee with them.” Rey sighed in defeat. 

Finn beamed with excitement and they all headed out to the entrance of the pool to find Ben and his little gang of friends. 

Rey could feel her palms sweating, nervous to see Solo so soon after what had happened earlier, but she didn’t want him to know he had affected her, so she steeled her expression and tried to push thoughts of the incident from her mind. 

As they all approached the pool’s entrance, Ben and his friends came into view and Rey felt her heart skip a beat. She could be cool, she could.

“Hey guys! We heard you were gonna start a game of ultimate frisbee and we wanted to join you.” Kaydel smiled with a fake cheeriness to her voice. At least she was trying to be friendly. 

Rose smiled at her. “Yeah, we were gonna play while Han, Luke and Leia prepped dinner.” She and Hux, the tall red-head that Rey had never seen smile before, were holding hands, and it dawned on Rey that they were a couple. Maybe that’s why she was friends with Solo. 

Ben was avoiding looking at Rey, and he distracted himself by shuffling his feet. No one else noticed, but Rey did, probably because she was feeling pretty similar to how he was acting. 

“Leia invited us to dinner with you guys too, so we’ll be seeing a lot of each other today.” Kaydel chuckled. 

Rose was beaming. “Yay, that’s so great! We don’t usually all get to interact since we’re on different teams and all. It’ll be nice for all of us to get to know each other. Right, Armie?” She tugged lightly on Hux’s arm and turned to him with a sweet smile on her face. 

He chuckled lightly under his breath. “Yeah, sure babe.” He turned to look at Ben, who had now apparently found something extremely enticing on the ground. “Not sure Ben feels that way, though.” 

An awkward silence fell over the group as Ben continued to be fascinated by the ground. They were all looking at him now, and he hadn’t realized that they were waiting on him for an answer. 

It took him a solid minute to figure out that they had stopped talking and he whipped his head up to find everyone looking at him. “What? Did I do something?”

Everyone burst into laughter, and even Rey couldn’t help but laugh softly. He blushed and looked slightly annoyed by the reaction of the group. “Seriously, what?” 

Poe interjected, trying to save his friend. “Finn and his friends want to join in our game of frisbee, and then they’re going to join us for the barbecue your parents set up.” 

Ben’s eyes darted to Rey, and he took a second before he nodded slightly. “Sure, sounds fine.” 

The nine of them made their way over to the field that was right outside of the pool, and they naturally began to pair off. Kaydel and Jannah led the pack with Finn and Poe close behind them. Rose, Hux and Phasma followed, leaving Ben and Rey at the back. Every little pair or trio was chatting away, except for Ben and Rey, who kept their distance and stayed in awkward silence for the entirety of the short walk to the field. 

This game would definitely be interesting. 

____________

In order to make the teams fair, Rose had put everyone’s names into a randomizer on her phone and shuffled them into two groupings. Rey, Poe, Phasma and Hux ended up on one team, leaving Ben, Finn, Rose, Kaydel and Jannah on the other team. 

They had been playing for almost half an hour when Rose called a time-out to take a quick water break. Almost everyone was sweating and panting softly. It seemed like no one was holding back, and they were all taking this game a _little_ too seriously. 

Rey was having more fun than she had originally anticipated, especially since her team was winning. At one point she had accidentally hit Ben with the frisbee, but she maintained that it was his fault for not paying attention. 

Surprisingly, other than that, things had been going really well. Rey still couldn’t look at him for extended periods of time, but she had caught him staring at her on a couple of occasions. No one had fought, however, which was a huge improvement from a few days ago. 

During their water break, she watched him more closely than before. He was wearing dark blue swim trunks with light gray pinstripes on the bottom and nothing on top, and even though she had seen him shirtless plenty of times prior, she had never taken the time to appreciate his body. He was all chiseled lines and hard muscle, and for once Rey found herself distracted by Ben Solo in a good way.

He was drinking from his water bottle messily, and drops of water spilled out from the corners of his mouth and began to slide down his chin and onto his chest. If Rey’s eyes tracked the path of those water droplets, that was her business, and she definitely wouldn’t tell anyone else about it. 

In the midst of her distraction, Ben looked over at her and caught her staring. Their eyes locked, and a small smirk formed on his lips before he turned back to talk to Hux. 

Damn him. 

Before they could get back into the game, Leia came out to tell them that dinner was ready. 

Rey and her team celebrated their default victory as they all piled back into the pool, and even though Ben and his team had lost, he still smiled at her when she looked over at him. Rey really didn’t know what to make of all of it, but she decided to ignore it and focus on getting to the food. 

She would have time to think about how weird he was acting later. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on twitter! [sweetsomethin](https://twitter.com/sweetsomethin_)
> 
> Follow Lynn and Elory!!! [reyshines](https://twitter.com/reyshines) [w0banyelory](https://twitter.com/w0banyelory)
> 
> Swimming Terminology
> 
> NTG: Stands for National Training Group, basically anyone who swims in this group is training to try and be in the Olympics 
> 
> Time Trials: At the beginning of a summer swim season, everyone on the team has to swim every event in order to get their times. Their times determine if they are in an 'A' Meet or 'B' Meet. 
> 
> Swim Meet: Sort of the swim equivalent of a sports game. Swimmers swim their events (there are a lot of them) and try to beat their own personal records as well as beating other people in the pool. 
> 
> Club Team: Swim programs/teams that train all year. 
> 
> Year ‘Round vs Summer Season: Year 'round swimming (also called winter swimming) is what club teams do. This is more intense and more of a time commitment. The times people get in certain year 'round swim meets can qualify them for the Olympic Trials. The summer season is around seven to eight weeks of training with two meets a week, plus time trials, divisionals and a relay carnival. I didn't include a relay carnival in this fic for simplicity purposes but they do happen. Summer swim leagues are divided into divisions, and the teams in each division swim against one another to earn points based on placement in each swim. It is competitive, but the main purpose of summer swimming is fun and teaching kids how to swim. 
> 
> Summer Swim Meets: Meets in the summer are much simpler than club meets. 8&unders swim 25s (one length of the pool) of each stroke. 9-10s swim 50s (two lengths) of each stroke. 11-12s and 13-14s swim 50s of each stroke and a 100 IM (Individual Medley: a length of butterfly, a length of backstroke, a length of breaststroke and a length of freestyle, in that order). 15-18s swim 100s of each stroke and a 100 IM. In A meets there are two relays: A medley relay at the beginning consisting of swimmers 15&up and a freestyle relay at the end consisting of swimmers 14 and under. That's as far in depth as I'll go because I don't want to overwork anyone's brain with too much information, but that's the jist of it. 
> 
> Divisionals: The final meet of the summer season. All the teams in a division pick their two fastest swimmers in each event and they swim against eachother. Faster times=more points. 
> 
> Point System: Points only get rewarded during A meets. First place gets 10 points, second place gets 8, third place gets 6, fourth place gets 4, fifth place gets 2 and sixth place gets 0. At the end of a season, each team in a division counts up all their points for the season, and depending on how many points they earn they can either move up in divisions, down in divisions or stay in the same division. 
> 
> A Meet vs B Meet: A meets are where the faster swimmers race and are more competitive. The six fastest swimmers for freestyle in each age group (and separated into girls and boys) swim in an A meet. For every other event it is the three fastest swimmers. For Divisionals it is the two fastest swimmers. One individual swimmer can only swim three events plus an IM, giving more kids a chance. B meets are more for fun and allow swimmers to improve on their times and potentially get a fast enough time to swim in an A meet for that week. The lineups for meets change all the time!
> 
> Organization of Teams by Division: My swim league uses a letter system to organize our divisions. A division is the fastest teams, and O division is the not as fast teams. Some teams in lower divisions have fast kids, they just don't have the numbers to support their team. 
> 
> The four strokes: Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly. 
> 
> I appreciate kudos and comments so so much!!!


	3. one step forward, two steps back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Niima, take a breath. Calm down. You’ll be fine. You’re the most talented swimmer I’ve ever met. There’s not a doubt in my mind that you’ll exceed everyone’s expectations tomorrow, including your own.” 
> 
> “Wow...that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
> 
> He shrugged and turned his attention back to drying the dishes, as if he didn’t just shatter her image of him completely. “I meant what I said. I don’t tend to lie.” He gave her a pointed look and stared directly into her eyes. “You have the talent to make it pro. You could go all the way, but…”
> 
> This caught her attention, and not in a good way. “But what?” 
> 
> “You lack discipline. I know Luke is trying his best, but I meant what I said at that meet, Niima. You need someone else to coach you. Someone who can instill harder regulations into your training.” 
> 
> What a jackass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm getting so excited about this fic. The rest of the outline just makes me so jittery and excited to write the rest of this. 
> 
> We're rampin' things up a little y'all. 
> 
> Thank you x1000 to my beta reader Lynn (reyofsunshine). Check out her fics! She's so talented and I love her lots. 
> 
> Playlist is [here](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2F5e1k7PLFIrblgoA1BKSv) and I'm updating it whenever more inspiration comes so check it out! It includes songs that I listened to while writing this along with songs that Ben and Rey in this fic listen to. 
> 
> Enjoy~

Rey and Ben fell into a comfortable sort of routine after that night at the pool. She still did her best to avoid him at all costs, and that included avoiding looking at him. They had just figured out how to be cordial, and she didn’t want to ruin that by fighting with him again. Despite the calmness that they displayed while in public, Rey was still battling with a lot of feelings about him on the inside. He still annoyed her like no one else could, and there was a constant war in her mind between wanting to hate him and wanting to...well, she wasn’t really sure what those other feelings were. The most frustrating thing about him was that each time she discovered a new little piece of him, the more she found that it was becoming harder to hate him. 

By the end of the second week of practices, Rey was absolutely exhausted. A routine of two-hour practices at 4 am four times a week, coaching from 7:30am-10am Monday through Friday, teaching private lessons all day almost every day, and then coaching again from 3:30pm-6:30pm was wearing her out quickly. She wasn’t sure how she would manage once meets actually started, but she had a feeling caffeine would be a big contributor to her survival. For the first time in years, Friday dinner at the Organa-Solo house sounded like a welcome treat instead of an invitation to uncomfortable arguments and glaring at Ben Solo. 

Dinner had gone well, surprisingly. Both Ben and Rey had engaged in the table conversation, mostly talking about the time trials scheduled for the next day. It was after dinner, and Rey had offered to wash the dishes. She was in the middle of scrubbing a particularly greasy pot when Ben suddenly walked into the kitchen and startled her. 

“Solo, what are you doing in here?” 

“Just wanted to see if you needed some help.” 

She eyed him warily before nodding. “Actually, yeah. Can you dry off the dishes that I’ve cleaned already?”

“Sure.” He grabbed the clean towel that was by her elbow on her right, grazing her arm lightly by accident. It sent a small shiver down her spine, and she hoped to whoever was listening that Ben didn’t notice. 

They fell into a comfortable silence as Rey continued to scrub and wash while Ben dried off the dishes set on the counter to her left. It went by faster now that they were working together, and something in the back of Rey’s mind was questioning when being around Ben became so...easy. Eventually, Rey couldn’t handle not speaking to him and broke the silence. 

“So...are you excited for tomorrow?” 

He hummed in thought. “I guess. I feel bad that I can’t help with coaching since I’ll be swimming every event, but I guess you get that since you’re in the same boat.” He turned his head slightly to look at her. “How about you?” 

She bit her lip and looked up at him. “If I’m being honest, I’m nervous. I’ve just worked so hard to get to this level, and I don’t want to disappoint Luke or the team, and I want to be a role model to the kids, but I also don’t want to burn out because I want to make it to the Olympics one day and I’m going to college on a swimming scholarship and-” 

“Niima, take a breath. Calm down. You’ll be fine. You’re the most talented swimmer I’ve ever met. There’s not a doubt in my mind that you’ll exceed everyone’s expectations tomorrow, including your own.” 

“Wow...that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

He shrugged and turned his attention back to drying the dishes, as if he didn’t just shatter her image of him completely. Maybe he wasn’t the complete asshole that she had always seen. Maybe, just maybe, he was actually a genuinely nice person. She watched as his long, dark hair fell into his eyes while he continued to focus on the last of the dishes, and she continued to stare as he brought his hand up to push it back and smooth it down slightly. It was...something else, for sure. “I meant what I said. I don’t tend to lie.” He put the towel and placed both palms on the counter in front of him as he leaned into it slightly. “Honestly, it’s what made me envy you for so long. My uncle and my parents latched onto mentoring you and nurturing your natural-born talent, and I just…” He huffed and turned around, leaning back against the counter and crossing his arms over his broad chest. “Nevermind. It doesn’t matter.” He gave her a pointed look and stared directly into her eyes. “You have the talent to make it pro. You could go all the way, but…”

This caught her attention, and not in a good way. “But what?” She began to feel a small fire burning in her chest, threatening to spill out already, and he had barely said anything yet. Her reaction hinged on whatever he would say next. 

“You lack discipline. I know Luke is trying his best, but I meant what I said at that meet, Niima. You need someone else to coach you. Someone who can instill harder regulations into your training.” 

_What a jackass._

She huffed in anger and threw the sud-covered sponge into the sink. “I thought we were getting somewhere, but you just  _ had _ to ruin it, didn’t you? Luke gives me  _ plenty  _ of discipline. I train harder than you could ever imagine. I practice so hard that it hurts to move most of the time. I do more to train, in and out of practice, and do you know why?” 

He didn’t answer, just continued to stare blankly at her. 

“I’ll tell you why. It’s because I don’t have a choice. I have to be the best because I’ll get left behind otherwise.” Tears began to well up in her eyes. “But Snoke never notices that. I might never make it pro because Snoke won’t let me into NTG, and I work so damn hard to please him. He isn’t even my coach, but I have to work twice as hard as anyone else to get noticed by him or college scouts or literally any  _ fucking  _ person who could remotely care about me and what I can offer them.” The tears were now running down her cheeks, despite her brain protesting because why the  _ fuck  _ was she crying in front of Ben Solo. “I have the times and the discipline and I want it  _ astronomically _ more than every single person in that group. I’m better than all of those NTG girls, but I’m getting left behind  _ again and again  _ because Snoke  _ hates _ me. What the fuck did I do to deserve getting left behind?” 

She knew she wasn’t talking about Snoke and NTG anymore, at least not entirely, but Solo didn’t have to know that. Rey was sobbing at this point, but she kept her resolve and continued to stare him down and stand her ground. She refused to let herself crumple physically, even though she was crumpling on the inside. 

They stood there for a while, staring each other down as Rey began to let her breathing even out while she calmed herself down. Ben worked his jaw slightly in thought, but he kept his mouth shut until Rey wiped the last remaining tears from her eyes. 

“Niima, I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sorry it came off that way. I’m just trying to say that Olympians have a specific training regiment, and it’s intense. I just don’t think your training is at that level right now, but to be fair, I also don’t know what you do outside of the pool, so if you really think that what you’re doing is enough, then by all means, ignore me.” She was still sniffling lightly, so he grabbed a box of tissues from the cabinet behind his head and handed them to her. “And about Snoke, ignore him. You won’t get what you need from him. He’s...not a good guy or a good coach. You can succeed and fulfill your dreams without him. If you joined NTG, you would probably break under all the bullshit, and I don’t want that to happen to you. Not when you have more potential for greatness in your pinky toe than most people will ever have in their entire life.” With his piece being said and Rey being shocked into silence, Ben left the kitchen to loom back up to his room, leaving Rey alone to sit with his words ringing through her head. 

What did he mean by all of that? Snoke was renowned by the entire country, and even other parts of the world, for his coaching. He had trained multiple Olympians to success, and from what Rey had seen of him on deck, he knew exactly what he was doing. How could someone with that good of a track record be a bad coach? 

She wanted to chase after him to get answers, but before she could leave the kitchen, Leia stepped in and blocked her from exiting. 

“Rey, dear! Have you been crying?” Leia took both of her hands in her own and squeezed them gently. 

“A little, I was just thinking about this sad story that someone told me earlier.” 

The look that Leia gave her told Rey that the older woman didn’t believe her for a second, but luckily she didn’t press her further on the issue. “Well, anyways, Maz has had a little too much to drink so I think it might be best for you two to stay the night.” 

“No, that’s okay. I can drive us home. I wouldn’t want to overstay our welcome, and I have to be up early tomorrow for time trials anyways.” 

Leia gave her another knowing look. “The guest room is not near Ben’s room, so you won’t have to see him, even by accident. The two of you are never a burden, so don’t spew such silly nonsense. You already have your swim bag in the car, all packed and ready to go, and I know you keep an extra racing suit in there. It’s too late for you to be driving back. Stay tonight, rest, get up early tomorrow and kick some ass.” 

Rey was a little taken aback at Leia’s language, no matter how small of a word, considering she rarely heard Leia curse. “Um, okay. You’re sure it won’t be a hassle to let us sleep here?” 

“Of course not! Go get Maz and take her to the guest room. There’s a pull-out couch down here in the living room too so that you don't have to sleep in the same bed.” 

The smaller woman gave Rey a warm smile and stepped around her to go make tea. Rey did exactly as she said and brought Maz down to the guest room, helping her settle in for the night before she headed back up to the main floor. 

By the time she got back upstairs, Leia and Han had already gone to bed and Luke had disappeared to wherever he dwelled whenever he wasn’t at his sister’s house (Rey had been asking him where he lived for years, and he still hadn’t told her). 

Leia had left a stack of blankets and a change of clothes on the pull out bed, which someone,  _ bets on Han _ , had already set up for her. 

As she laid out the sheets and blankets, she noticed that the clothes were large, far too large to be Leia’s. She inspected the black band t-shirt and soft cotton sweatpants and realized that they were  _ Ben Solo’s  _ clothes. 

_ Well shit.  _

After a moment of contemplating just wearing her jean shorts and tank top to bed, she finally decided to just suck it up and change into the clothes. It wasn’t a big deal, it wasn’t like it was  _ him  _ giving them to her. Leia set them out for her. 

She had to roll the waistband of the sweatpants a few times in order for them to sort of fit her, and the hem of the t-shirt landed around her mid thighs. It reminded her just how large Solo is. His massive frame could easily fill these clothes, and possibly stretch them, but she was tiny in comparison. An odd fluttering sensation filled her stomach at the thought of his size, but she buried it deep down and shook off thoughts of him. 

The one thing she couldn’t get her mind off were his words from earlier. She needed to know more about what he told her, even if it started another argument with him. 

Her one consolation was that he would never know that she wore his clothes. She would wake up the next morning before him and hide all evidence of this sordid experience, even if a small part of her luxuriated in the scent of his t-shirt and the idea that someone so large could easily pick her up and throw her over- 

_ No. Stop it.  _

Rey shook off thoughts of him once again and tucked herself into the couch bed. It was surprisingly comfortable, and before she knew it, Rey was drifting off to sleep, preparing her body and mind to wake up early, avoid Ben Solo, and crush it at time trials. 

_________

There was one small hitch in Rey’s plan for the day. She forgot to set an alarm. 

Rey awoke to the sound of bustling in the kitchen and the smell of bacon wafting through the air. It lifted her from her dreamscape slowly, but at the promise of food, she rose quickly. 

When she walked into the dining room, she was met with the sight of Ben Solo, Maz, and Leia all sitting around the dining room table. At that moment, she remembered exactly why she wanted to wake up early, and as she made the realization, apparently so did Ben. 

_ Oh Shit.  _

“Why are you wearing my clothes?” He had an odd expression on his face. She couldn’t read it, but it looked sort of...pained? No. That wasn’t exactly it, but it was as close as she could get to deciphering him. 

Rey blushed and looked at him as nonchalantly as possible. “Leia put these out for me last night since I didn’t know I was sleeping over and therefore didn’t bring pajamas.” 

He continued to stare at her, as if he was as frazzled as this as she was. She broke the eye contact first and moved to sit at the table next to Maz. 

“What time is it anyway?” Rey asked, yawning lightly and rubbed at her eyes. 

Han started to bring plates of eggs, bacon, and toast out to the table and everyone started to dig in. 

“Five-thirty. Time trials start at eight but warm-ups are at seven so we need to get some food in you kids asap.” Leia responded. 

“Don’t eat too much, otherwise it’ll weigh you down in the water. Wouldn’t want you two to sink to the bottom of the pool.” Maz added. 

Han sat with them once everything was set and chuckled when he saw Rey. “Slow down, kid. You’re gonna choke if you scarf it down like that.” 

She blushed and wiped her mouth with a napkin in response. “Sorry, Han. I’m just really nervous about today and I want to go get ready as soon as I can.” 

“You’ll be fine, kiddo. You’ll knock ‘em dead like you always do.” 

At that, Ben got up from the table, empty plate in hand, and left to put it in the sink. He emerged a second later and went to go change, leaving the rest of the table in an awkward lull. 

Leia sighed deeply but said nothing. 

They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence. 

________

Rey plopped down on a bench in the team seating area and took a big gulp from her water bottle while she tried to even out her breathing. 

She had just finished her 100 backstroke, which meant it was almost time for halftime. She was already exhausted, and she had only swam two events so far. Her times were okay, but she knew she could be doing better. The problem was, she was still distracted by what Solo had said the night before. She had been trying to get him alone to talk to him since that morning, but every time she managed to find him alone, one of them would be pulled away or interrupted by a third party. 

It was as if the universe was trying to make it so they would never get a chance to talk. 

Luke and Holdo gathered all of the kids by the large tree at the center of their team seating area to get them ready for cheers. Rey was making her way to the front with the rest of the coaches when she felt a small tug on the towel around her waist. She turned to find Kira looking up at her with a shy smile. 

“Coach Rey, can I get on your shoulders?”

There was no way in hell she could say no to that face. “Yeah, hop on!” Rey squatted down and helped Kira get adjusted to sit on her shoulders. When she stood back up, she noticed that Ben also had an 8 and under named Ren on his shoulders who was beaming from ear to ear. 

The image of such a small person on Ben’s shoulders made her feel...odd. There was this unexplainable warmth in her chest. She knew Ben was good with kids, that much was obvious from her time watching him coach on deck, but it hit her all at once how much she  _ liked  _ that he was so good with kids. 

_ Stop it, chill out Rey. He’s still an ass.  _

The coaches lined up in front of the kids and led them in a few cheers to get them excited. This was always one of Rey’s favorite parts of meets. Seeing everyone get so pumped up for their events was the best team bonding experience she had ever had while growing up on the team. Everyone was cheering together and trying to make as much noise as possible, and in those moments, Rey didn’t feel as alone. 

As everyone broke apart to go get ready for their next races, Rey felt Kira being lifted off of her shoulders and looked up to see Ben picking her up and setting her down on the ground below her. Kira smiled up at him and hugged his leg. “Coach Ben, can I go on your shoulders next time? I wanna be big and tall just like you.” 

He kneeled down to face Kira at eye level and ruffled her hair up. “Sure, Kira. But first, go get your cap and goggles and get ready for breastroke. It’s coming up soon.” 

The little girl bounded off back to the little cluster of bags that she and her friends and family had set down earlier, leaving Rey and Ben alone for the first time this whole meet. 

Ben stood back up and looked over at Rey, who was staring at him. 

He gave her a curious look. “What?” 

“Oh, nothing. Just didn’t know that you were such a gentle giant.” 

The hint of a smile played at the corners of his lips. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Niima.” 

That jogged her memory to the question she had been wanting to ask him all day, but before she could ask, Bazine came prancing over. She put her hand on his shoulder and smiled, a little too perkily for Rey’s liking. 

“Hey Ben, the 100 IM is happening soon. You should go get ready.”

“Niima has the 100 IM too.” 

“Oh, right.” Bazine finally looked over at her and gave her a condescending grin. “You should both go get ready, but Ben’s race is first.” 

As Rey was walking to go grab her cap and goggles, she reflected on how weird seeing Bazine flirt with Solo made her feel. She told herself she wasn’t jealous, because she  _ wasn’t.  _

_ Right? _

__________

By the end of time trials, Rey was tired, hungry, and a little disappointed in herself, if she was being honest.

She had placed first in every event, but her times weren’t her best. She knew it was because she was distracted. Rey hadn’t stopped thinking about Ben’s words from the night before. 

The team was having lunch at the pool after trials were over, and Rey was scarfing her burger and chips down as fast as she could. She was so hungry she could feel her stomach growling. 

Ben was nowhere in sight, which was extremely disappointing considering she had been trying to talk to him all day. 

Once she had finished her food, Rey fled to the bathroom to change into the bikini she had packed previously so that she could spend the rest of her day relaxing at the pool with Finn. Kaydel’s family was taking a short trip to their cabin for the weekend, and Jannah was visiting her grandpa Lando for the day. 

It was nice, honestly, to have time alone with Finn. Ever since Kaydel and Jannah joined their little group, she and Finn hadn’t really had time to catch up, just the two of them. He was her first and best friend, and it was good that they had the day to spend together. 

They chatted for hours, about anything and everything. Rey brought up Poe, and they talked about how that was going. Finn was still too nervous to say anything about his crush to Poe, but at least he was admitting that he had a crush. 

Finn prodded Rey about Ben, to which Rey changed the subject and ignored it completely. 

The whole time she was with Finn, however, she was thinking about Solo. She needed to know more about why he was so sure that Snoke was so awful. What about him was awful? Why did he say that he would break her?

Ben never showed back up at the pool, so Rey never got her chance to ask him. She and Finn said their goodbyes once the pool closed and they had to head their separate ways. 

It was nine in the evening, and Rey was exhausted from a full day of swimming and sunbathing. It was definitely time to go home. When she got in her car and tried to start it, however, the ignition wouldn’t run. She tried over and over again to start her car, but it sputtered and failed every single time. 

As she became more frustrated, tears began to well up in her eyes and she hit the top of her steering wheel. 

“Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!” 

She was so caught up in her frustration that she didn’t notice the figure standing outside of her window until she heard tapping on the glass. It startled her, but what was more surprising was when she turned to see who it was, Ben Solo was staring right back at her. 

Rey stepped out of her car to see what he wanted. “Can I help you?” 

“Actually, it looks like I might need to help you. Car troubles?” He wasn’t smirking at her or rubbing this misfortune in her face, he looked genuinely concerned about her. 

_ Odd.  _

She sighed and nodded, defeatedly. “My stupid piece of shit car won’t start.” 

“Want a ride?” 

“Actually, yeah. That would be amazing.” 

She grabbed her stuff from her car and followed him over to his car, parked at the far edge of the parking lot. 

As she climbed into the passenger seat, swim bag in her lap, her inner monologue got the best of her. 

“I didn’t know you were here.” 

“Yeah, I’ve been here all day.” 

“I didn’t see you.” 

He turned to look at her slightly as he pressed a button to start up his car. 

_ Of course he has a fancy car with push-button ignition.  _

“Were you looking for me, Niima?” 

She scoffed. “Of course not. That’s ridiculous.” 

His face fell slightly, but he acted as if it didn’t faze him. “I was closer to the lap pool, in a corner reading.” 

“Oh, what were you reading?” 

He pursed his lips slightly and started to pull out of the parking lot. “Don’t judge me, it’s pretty nerdy.”

“I won’t judge you.” 

He gave her a look, as if saying ‘yeah right’, but he still sighed and said, “I was reading The Galaxy Chronicles.” 

_ No way.  _

“You read The Galaxy Chronicles? Really?” 

He nodded and blushed a little. “You said you wouldn’t judge.” 

“I’m not judging. I’m a little shocked, actually. I’ve never met anyone else who likes The Galaxy Chronicles too.” 

He looked over at her, his lips parted and his eyes shone slightly as they passed the street lights outside. 

“Eyes on the road, Solo.” 

“Right, sorry.” He quickly turned his attention back to the streets in front of him, but a blush still covered his cheeks. 

They drove in silence for a bit, but Rey hated silence. 

“So, do you always drive in silence or do you listen to music?” 

Ben hummed in reply. “I usually play music when I drive during the day, but at night I don’t like getting distracted because it’s more dangerous.” 

“Makes sense. What do you usually listen to?” 

“Rap, some indie and alternative stuff too. I’ve been listening to a lot of MGK lately.” 

She snorted lightly. “That’s a little surprising, honestly.” 

His brow furrowed a little. “Well, what do you listen to?” 

“I’m a big BTS fan, but I also love Ariana Grande, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift.” 

“BTS? Isn’t that all in a different language?” 

“I mean, yeah it’s in Korean, but their lyrics and message are so good that it doesn’t matter. Their music is universal.” 

He hummed again. “Interesting. Your music taste makes sense.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Just that it’s very you.” 

She blew out some air from her nose and turned to him. “I don’t advertise this, but I also sometimes listen to indie and alternative music.” 

“Oh really? Who do you listen to?” He sounded amused, like he didn’t fully believe her. 

“Wallows, Summer Salt, boy pablo, Cavetown and The Arctic Monkeys.” 

He smiled, a rare sight for sure but it warmed Rey up in a way that she hadn’t expected. “I love Wallows. I want to go to a concert next time they come here.” 

“Me too! I’ve wanted to see them live, but none of my friends like them.” 

They were at a stoplight and Ben looked over at her, studying her face. She followed his gaze as he looked to her lips and she saw his adam's apple bob heavily. She didn’t feel awkward under his gaze, instead she felt...adored. His eyes were heating her up inside, and it was the strangest feeling. It was all extremely unfamiliar to her. 

The light turned green, but Ben continued to stare at her, and the car didn’t move. 

“The light is green.” She whispered eventually, not wanting to break the moment, but also not wanting to hold traffic up, despite there being no other cars on the street. 

He turned his attention back to the road, seeming reluctant to do so, and started driving again. 

She tried once again to lighten the thick air that was building in the car. “You smell like chlorine, Solo.” 

Ben grinned slightly. “You know you like it, Rey. And you smell like chlorine too.” 

She giggled, “It’s the curse of being a swimmer. Perpetual chlorine stink.” 

Then, she let his words sink in a little more and she turned to him in surprise. “That’s the first time you’ve called me by my first name.” 

He looked at her with a small warmth in his gaze. “Yeah, I guess it is.” He smiled and looked back to the road. “I like your name. Maybe I’ll start saying it more often.” 

However illogical it was, hearing those words made Rey’s heart flutter. 

They were almost at her house, and she realized he remembered how to get there even though he had only been there once or twice. 

It also hit her that she still had questions for him.

“What did you mean last night? When you said Snoke could break me?” 

He sighed and pushed his hand through his hair. “Snoke...isn’t a nice guy. He’s manipulative and harsh, and he will work you until you bend to his will. He gets inside your head in this really creepy way.” They turned onto her street. “He’s especially weird with female swimmers. I feel like you wouldn’t last. You’re just so...you, and he’s horrible, so it wouldn’t be good for you.” 

“I’m just so...me? What the hell is that supposed to mean, Solo?” 

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way! I swear. You’re just so good, Rey. You’re not just good at swimming, you’re a good person. Snoke breaks good people and turns them into machines. He doesn’t care about your emotional well being, he just wants power and control.” 

She wasn’t really sure how to respond to that, so she didn’t. As he turned into her driveway, she turned to him. 

“Thank you for the ride, and for the uh, intel on Snoke. I appreciate it...Ben.” 

He helped her out of the car with a grin on his face and got her bag for her, and they stood in her driveway staring at each other. For a second, Rey thought that maybe this was the beginning of a new friendship for the two of them. She liked the idea of not hating him for being an asshole, and she was warming up to the possibility of actually  _ liking  _ him. 

He didn’t quite smile, but the corners of his lips tugged up a little as he looked at her. “Make sure you take your piece of shit car in to get it fixed. It’s an accident waiting to happen.” 

_ Never mind. Spoke too soon. He was still a fucking asshole. _

Rey laughed, but it was far from one of amusement. "You know for a moment there, you really had me convinced that we could do this whole being each other's friend thing. I really did. But then," she took a step toward him and jabbed her index finger into his chest. "You just had to open your big fat mouth!"

He looked dumbstruck, as if somehow her comment was unwarranted, but that just fueled her anger more. 

"Just because your privileged ass can afford a nice ass Lexus or whatever the fuck that is and I can't, doesn't mean you can just call my car a piece of shit. Fuck you!"

She turned and stormed into her house, refusing to turn back to look at him, even though she heard him calling her name. She didn’t stop until she was all the way up in her room, and she flopped onto her bed angrily. 

So what if she called her car a piece of shit earlier? That didn’t give him the right to do the same thing and make her feel bad about not having a lot of money. His entitled ass didn’t know how lucky he was, and she was not having any of it. 

_ Fuck Ben Solo.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She definitely doesn't mean that she wants to fuck him...not at all...
> 
> Here is my [Twitter](https://twitter.com/sweetsomethin_)
> 
> Come follow me and we can be buddies! 
> 
> I love and appreciate every comment and kudo! Thank you for reading <3


	4. making waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **His gaze flicked back up to her eyes, and she swallowed heavily. There were about three seconds of complete stillness that fell over the room, and then suddenly he surged forward, his lips were on hers and he was backing her up against the shed door.**
> 
> **In all of her eighteen years of life, she had never experienced a kiss quite like this one. It burned hotter and brighter than the sun, and the meeting point of their lips felt like an equinox that would end her world as she knew it. This kiss would ruin her, and for some strange reason, she was perfectly okay with that.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting ~spicy~ 
> 
> Check out the playlist! It's going to become more important to the story as. we go, and there are some really good songs on there. [take a dive playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2F5e1k7PLFIrblgoA1BKSv)

It was only two days after their fight that Rey and Ben had fought again. This time, luckily, it was during a practice that they were actually swimming in, and not one where they were coaching, otherwise Luke would have had their heads. Monday morning, bright and early, Ben and Rey were forced to be in the same lane at summer swim team practice. They wouldn’t have been in this situation if Rey hadn’t missed First Order club practice that morning, but her body refused to get up at 4 am that day. 

It was more awkward than she had anticipated. Ben didn’t talk to her at all, and he seemed to be avoiding looking at her as much as he possibly could. They were the only two people in their lane that morning, so his efforts to avoid talking to her were even more obvious to her. 

She knew she should try and reconcile things with him, but she was still fuming from Saturday night. In the logical half of her brain, she knew that he didn’t mean to offend her, that he was just echoing her sentiments from earlier. The more emotional side of her - the one she hated bringing out into the light - couldn’t get over what he said. Her problems with Ben Solo all stemmed from the fact that despite having everything - loving parents who sent him to the best private school in their county and provided anything he could ever need or want - he was still so ungrateful to them. He was rude to his mother, and he mostly ignored his father. Rey would’ve done  _ anything  _ to have what Ben had, and yet he continued to be apathetic and entitled. 

The more they ignored each other, the more Rey wanted to talk to him. It was ridiculous, how petty she felt, but it was even more ridiculous that despite everything, she still yearned to just  _ talk to him.  _

Their conversation in his car had been pleasant, for the most part, and Rey had learned more about Ben in those ten or so minutes than she had in the last nine years that she had known him. 

It would have been nice, she thought, if all of their interactions could be like that, but this image of him that she had conjured up in her mind - one of privilege and arrogance - just wouldn’t go away. Each new piece of him that she uncovered revealed more of the puzzle that was Ben Solo, but the picture on the front of the box was still tainted and ugly. 

They managed to almost make it to the end of practice without interacting at all beyond a basic acknowledgment of each other, but of course, the universe decided to fuck with Rey today. 

_ How lucky for her.  _

Ben was trying to swim past her during a breaststroke set, and while she didn’t think she kicked him that hard, apparently it was hard enough to make him stop and swim to the wall. 

He tugged on her foot lightly to stop her from swimming away from him. She reluctantly stopped the set and tread water, turning to look at him. 

“Rey, what the hell?!” He was rubbing at the top of his head and grimacing in pain. “Why did you kick me? I didn’t do anything!”

She rolled her eyes, and even if he couldn’t see it through her goggles, it still made her feel a little better. “I didn’t do it on purpose, Solo. You were trying to pass me, and you got in the way. Not everything is about you, asshole.” 

He huffed in annoyance. “Look, I’m sorry I got in your way, but you could at least apologize for kicking me. It really hurt.” 

She didn’t want to apologize to him. That would feel too much like defeat, like she was giving up to him. “No! I’m not apologizing for something that was your fault! Fu-” 

“Rey! Ben! Get out of the pool.” Luke was standing over them on deck and glaring at them with a fury in his eyes that she had never really seen the full extent of before. “NOW!” 

They both reluctantly pulled themselves out of the pool, heads hung low in shame. 

_ Shit. He’d make good on his threat, and Rey really needed this job.  _

“Follow me.” He looked past them to the other side of the pool and yelled to Holdo. “I’ll be right back, Amilyn. I have to teach these two knuckleheads a lesson.” 

Rey was oozing with anxiety and embarrassment. There was a pit in the bottom of her stomach at the thought of being fired. Luke led them both to the swim team shed and opened the door, gesturing for them to go inside. 

She was confused, but didn’t want to aggravate the situation any further, so she decided to follow orders without question. 

Once they were both inside the shed, Luke stood in the doorway and turned to them. “You two are going to work out whatever it is that is making you both act like five-year-olds, and you won’t come out of here until you do. Fix your shit, otherwise, I’m resorting to extreme measures.” 

With that, Luke shut the shed door and locked it, leaving Rey and Ben alone in what was possibly the smallest enclosed space she had ever been in. 

_ Fucknuggets.  _

Neither of them spoke for a while. The silence of the room was deafening, but for once, Rey was in no rush to break it. 

They were facing one another, but they refused to actually look at each other, and the tension of the room began to rise to a fever pitch. It was so thick that Rey began to feel suffocated. 

Luckily, Ben broke it first. 

“I’m sorry...for what I said last night. I didn’t mean to offend you, Rey. I promise.” 

She turned to look at him, but maintained her cold and awkward silence. 

He sighed heavily. “I mean it. I really didn’t want to hurt you, it just came out all wrong.” He blushed as his eyes searched her face for some hint of forgiveness. “Did you manage to get your car to a shop?”

She didn't mean to snap at him, she really didn’t. He just awoke so many emotions inside of her, and she couldn’t help it. “Oh, you mean the piece of shit? The one you called an ‘accident waiting to happen?’ Yeah, Solo. I got it to a shop, and I can’t afford to get it fixed. So now, I’m stuck riding with Finn or Maz. Thanks for rubbing it in.” 

He sighed again. It seemed like he couldn’t do anything but sigh around her today. “Rey, are we really back to using last names? I thought we got past that.”

“We did, and then you ruined it.”

“I said I’m sorry, okay!” He was fuming a little now, and he was probably justified in his anger, but Rey couldn’t find it in herself to tell him that she accepted his apology. “Why do you hate me so much? I try, Rey.” He stepped a little closer to her, and she could see every detail of his face. He was mad, that much was obvious, but there was something else under all of that. “I try to figure you out. I try my best to be good to you and make you like me too, but no matter what I do or how I try to approach this, you just blow up at me!”

She stared him down. “Oh, no. You don’t get to pretend that you’ve always been a saint towards me. You’ve taunted me and pushed my buttons time and time again. You’ve provoked me so many times that I can’t even keep track anymore. Fuck you for thinking this is all my fault!” She spat all of her rage out at him, and it just fueled that rage more. “It takes two to tango,  _ Ben. _ ” She said his name with such disdain that it felt like poison rolling off of her tongue. It didn’t feel natural. 

Ben took another step towards her and a growl escaped his throat. “Stop putting stupid fucking words in my mouth. I never  _ once  _ said it was all your fault!” A small choked sound escaped his mouth as he continued to let out all of his frustrations onto her. “I’m trying here. I’m trying so  _ damn  _ hard, but I feel like NOTHING is good enough for you. I want to be good enough for you, Rey! But you keep fucking pushing me away. No matter what I say or what I do, you find a way to hate me more. What the  _ fuck  _ do you want from me?! Just tell me,  _ please _ !” 

Rey took a step forward, staring him down. She wouldn’t back down from him, she couldn’t show weakness. “I want you to  _ fuck off. _ ” 

Their eyes were locked, each of them battling for dominance in their long-standing rivalry. He was dangerously close to her now, and she couldn’t help herself when she snuck a peek at his lips. She truly couldn’t help it, he was just so...intoxicating. His lips were plush and pink, and they begged to be kissed. 

It seemed like Ben’s mind was on a similar train of thought, because when she looked back up to his eyes, he was eyeing her lips too. She could cut the tension in the room with a knife. There was this innate pull to him that she couldn’t control. It was like he was a magnet, pulling her in bit by bit and trying to connect himself with her in both body and soul. 

His gaze flicked back up to her eyes, and she swallowed heavily. There were about three seconds of complete stillness that fell over the room, and then suddenly he surged forward, his lips were on hers and he was backing her up against the shed door. 

Ben’s lips were as soft as they looked, but the way he kissed her was far from it. He kissed her like he was starving, like he had been desperate to do exactly this for a long time. She felt like she was being devoured, and she found herself wanting to drown in him. 

He moved his hands to cup her cheeks, and one of them worked its way into her hair. She smoothed her hands over his chest and held onto his shoulders to keep herself from melting to the floor. 

She was burning with desire, and as he worked his lips over hers and started to lick at her bottom lip, she began to return his kiss with the same fervor and intensity that he was displaying. His tongue delved into her mouth and they began to battle for dominance and control, which was seemingly a common pattern in their relationship. 

The hand on her cheek crept down over her neck and shoulder slowly, his fingers dragged over her collarbone and down the side of her body until it rested right above her ass on the small of her back. He pulled her closer to him, until there was practically no space left between their bodies. 

In all of her eighteen years of life, she had never experienced a kiss quite like this one. It burned hotter and brighter than the sun, and the meeting point of their lips felt like an equinox that would end her world as she knew it. This kiss would ruin her, and for some strange reason, she was perfectly okay with that.

She wasn’t supposed to feel this way about a kiss. It wasn’t natural for her to desire Ben Solo this badly, and yet somehow he had managed to do the impossible with a simple kiss. For a few minutes, Rey completely forgot that she was supposed to hate this man. For a few minutes, she actually found herself  _ wanting  _ him. 

The spell broke when they had to break away for air. As soon as their lips parted, Rey felt all of her conflicting emotions come pouring back in. If this kiss was an arrival to new horizons, the end of it was a crash landing before they could even make it past the atmosphere. 

She pushed him away before he could lean in to kiss her again, and the expression on his face broke her even further. He was breathing heavily still, his chest heaving and hands shaking, but instead of the intense fire she had seen in his eyes earlier, there was just a mixture of confusion and hurt bearing down into her soul. 

His voice cracked a little as he tried to speak. “Rey, I-“ 

“This never happened. We can go back to being civil, but this- us - didn’t happen, Ben. It won’t happen.” 

_ It can’t happen.  _

Not with the way her heart fluttered at the mere thought of him. Not with the way she still wanted to punch his stupidly pretty face in. He made her head spin with confusion, and every time he was near there was a constant tornado of thoughts and feelings about him running through her mind at full speed. 

She wanted to hate him, she really did. She thought she did for the longest time, but now she wasn’t so sure if that was completely true and it terrified her.  _ He  _ terrified her. 

The last thing she remembered as she left him in the shed was the pure look of distress in his eyes. He looked like he both wanted to chase after her and never wanted to see her again. Perhaps she instilled similar confusing feelings in his brain, but Rey couldn’t find it in her to dwell on that thought. Dwelling on it, thinking about Ben Solo, would just be a one way ticket to disaster, and Rey couldn’t afford disaster right now. 

The imprint of his lips against hers lingered long after she left him in the shed, and despite her attempts to keep thoughts of him at bay, Rey couldn’t help but think of him. 

It occurred to her that perhaps this was her new reality. Perpetual thoughts of Ben Solo. 

_ Fucking hell.  _

_____

Finn drove Rey home from the pool that evening. She managed to keep herself busy throughout the day, and she barely had a chance to think too much about Ben, or what she now deemed “the shed incident”. It was almost easy to push him to the back of her mind.  _ Almost.  _

After practice, Rey taught lessons pretty much all day. She loved coaching and teaching swimming, but it was one of the most exhausting things she had ever done in her life. By the time afternoon practice rolled around, Rey was ready to pass out right there on the concrete deck. 

She and Ben avoided each other, but nothing was new there.

Except maybe for the fact that now she knew what his lips felt and tasted like, and despite every logical fiber of her being protesting against it, a large part of her, the emotional part, wanted nothing more than to run to him and kiss his lips until it didn’t hurt anymore. Because it did - hurt, that is. It hurt to have so many warring emotions all bottled up inside, and it hurt to know that she had made Ben hurt too. 

That was definitely a new development. Before all of this, Rey wouldn't bat an eyelash over the plight of Ben Solo. In fact, she probably would have rejoiced in his misery. Now, however, she would catch glimpses of him staring at her with deep hurt in his eyes, and it made her feel worse with every second that she thought about it. 

However, Rey stood her ground. She knew that getting involved with Ben Solo was dangerous. It was dangerous for both of them, and therefore it was better that they didn’t interact beyond the basic necessities practices and meets. 

She told herself this, but it didn’t make her any less confused. It didn’t make the pain in his eyes hurt any less. 

Rey is pulled from her thoughts when Finn clears his throat loudly. “So, what’s going on between you and Ben?”

At the mention of his name, she felt her heart begin to beat just a little faster. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb, Rey. Something’s going on between you two. First, you hate each other, and then you seem friendly for a bit, and now you’re back to acting like the other person doesn’t exist. What the hell is up with the two of you?” He stopped at a red light and turned to look at her, skepticism filling his eyes. 

“I don’t want to talk about it, Finn. It’s not a big deal. We tried to be friends, and it didn’t work, so we’re avoiding each other for everyone’s sake.” 

He continued to look at her with an air of concern, but luckily he dropped it, and they drove the rest of the way home in silence. 

_____

By the time Thursday rolled around, Rey had gotten used to ignoring Ben. Nevermind the occasional times she had caught him staring or the tight feeling in her chest whenever they brushed by each other on deck. She was fine. This was fine. 

That morning at practice had been no different than the rest of the week. The B meet on Wednesday had been a little tricky since they technically had to work together to get the kids organized and on deck, but Rey had managed to avoid him for the most part. 

Rey acted like there was nothing wrong. If one of her friends asked about it, she would brush it off. The kids didn’t seem to notice anything, which meant Rey was either really okay with it or she was just really good at hiding it. 

Despite all sensible parts of her brain telling her that she was in the right, there was still something nagging at her in the back of her mind. 

Ben tried talking to her once during the meet, but Rey pretended she hadn’t heard him and went to talk with some of the 9-10 girls instead. She didn’t miss the pain in his eyes or the defeated way he went about the pool for the rest of the meet. 

Today had been a slower day for Rey. Four of her lessons had canceled on her last minute, so she was stuck sunbathing and chilling by the lap pool alone that day. 

It was fine with her. She hadn’t had a break since the summer season started, and she finally had a chance to relax and read the rest of the eighth book in “The Galaxy Chronicles” series. 

She was just getting to the part where the heroine and the main villain, Kylo Ren, were about to duel his former master when a large shadow blocked her light. 

Rey peeked up from her book to see who had so rudely stepped in front of her light, and she was met with the sight of a very tired looking Ben Solo. 

“Hey Rey, can we talk? Please?”

She didn’t dare answer him. She knew better than to subject herself to another conversation with this boy. She turned her attention back to her book, trying to continue reading the words on the page even though her brain was buzzing uncontrollably. 

“Rey,  _ please _ . I don’t want to fight with you, and I don’t want the rest of our summer to be like this. I just...please talk to me.” She continued to stare down at her book, but her brain wasn’t processing any of the words on the page. 

Suddenly, he pulled the book from her hands and sat on the lounge chair at her feet. “Rey.” He gave her a stern look, but his words sounded like a plea. He wasn’t angry, just...desperate. 

She huffed and ripped her book out of his hands, marking her spot before stuffing it into her bag beside her. “What? What do you want?” 

His eyes softened to match his voice. “I just want to talk. We can’t keep ignoring each other. It isn’t healthy.”

“Then talk,  _ Solo. _ ” She knew that she was being harsher to him than necessary, but he awoke so many emotions inside of her. Her confusion about her feelings wasn’t his fault, but she was still taking it out on him. 

“Rey,” he sighed heavily, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for ever saying anything that upset you. There’s no excuse for being an asshole, and I’m sorry.” He paused for a second, giving her a chance to speak, but when she didn’t he continued. “I’m sorry for being an absolute idiot. I really don’t mean to hurt you.” He turned his body a little more to face her head-on. “I’m sorry about that kiss, too. I know you don’t want to talk about it, and we don’t have to. I shouldn’t have done it, but I…” 

She looked at him, some kind of hope bubbling up in her chest despite her efforts to quell it. “But what?” 

He rolled his lips together and ran a hand through his hair. “Nevermind.”

She thought for a moment and realized that she still wasn’t satisfied with his answer. “What did it mean, Ben? I’ve been so confused about it. I literally haven’t been able to sleep since that day. Please, just help me understand what’s going on. We hate each other, don’t we?”

“Do you really believe that, Rey? Do you really believe that I hate you? I know you hate me, but do you really believe that I hate you?” 

“I-”

She really wasn’t sure how to respond. Her mind was spinning, and she really wasn’t sure what to say.    
  


She didn’t say anything. 

Ben took it as a sign, and sighed in defeat. “What do you want that kiss to mean, Rey? If you want it to be something, we can talk about what it means. If you really want to forget it, I’ll let it go and we don’t have to talk about it again. I promise.” 

Rey stared into his eyes. She saw a storm of all sorts of conflict swirling in the depths of his honeyed amber irises. The confusion and pain in his face were mirrored in her own emotions, but instead of facing them head-on like he was encouraging her to do, she ran from them. 

“I don’t want to talk about the kiss. I want to forget about it.”

He closed his eyes briefly and looked away from her. “Okay, Rey.” He looked back to her after a moment with determination set on his features. “I’m warning you, though. I’m not going to forget about it. I can’t. ” 

That stunned her into silence, and for a moment neither of them said anything. 

He broke the tension when he stood from her chair and offered her his hand. “No more fighting. For our sakes and everyone else’s, let’s just try to be nice to each other. We can do that, right?”

She was apprehensive. They had already made a truce before, and it ended in her being more confused about him than she had ever been in her life.

Despite everything inside her warring against his proposal, she took his hand and shook it. “Deal. No more fighting.” She gave him a pointed look as he held her hand in his firm grip and shook it slowly. “Let’s try not to break this truce this time. I don’t think Luke can handle another blow up on deck from either one of us.” 

Inside her head, she knew that the fights were  _ mostly  _ her fault, but she didn’t want to admit that, especially to him. She couldn’t help that he fired up all of her senses and emotions at once. He just brought out this feral side of her. 

He smiled knowingly at her, like he was thinking the exact same thing, but he wisely didn’t say anything. Their hands slowed to a stop and he looked down to the place where they were now connected. He slowly turned her hand so that the back of it faced upwards, and stared at it with a deep-seated kind of fire that made her insides heat up a little. 

She didn’t think he had much control of his reaction at that moment, and for a second she thought he was going to kiss her hand like something out of a fairytale, but he quickly snapped out of his trance and dropped her hand, which oddly left Rey slightly disappointed. 

Before they could part ways, Rose came up to interrupt them. 

“Hey guys! Ben, we’ve been looking for you. We didn’t know you were both here. A bunch of us are all hanging out near the main pool. There’s like no one there, so you can come join us, Rey.”

Rey smiled at the other girl and nodded, grabbing her bag and shoes. “Sure! Sounds good to me.” 

Rose led Ben and Rey over to the area in the shade that their group had claimed. Rey noticed Kaydel and Jannah hanging out with Finn, Poe, Hux, and Phasma and was immediately confused. When did they all become friends? Had she really been so focused on herself and her own problems that she didn’t realize that Ben and her friend groups had somehow merged?

Kay noticed Rey walking towards them and waved her over. “Rey! We didn’t know you were here! We’ve been here for almost an hour, how come you didn’t come to hang out?”

She set her stuff down on a chair between Kaydel and Poe and shrugged. “I didn’t know you guys were here either.”

Poe grinned at her. “Well, well. Coach Rey and Coach Ben have joined the party! Nice to see you two getting along for once.” 

Finn elbowed him slightly and shot an apologetic look over at Rey. 

Phasma snorted softly in mock humor. “It’s nice seeing either of them, period. You guys have been pretty busy since coaching started.”

Ben blew out a breath of air and sighed. “Yeah, the season is a lot, and when you add lessons and practices on top of that it’s kind of hard to find any free time.” 

Rose smiled at the two of them as she held onto Hux’s arm. “I’m just glad we’re all here together right now. I never thought that hanging out in a big group like this would be a good idea, but everyone’s so fun!”

Poe smirked. “Speaking of fun...I have something I’ve always wanted to try, and now that we’re at a pool that actually allows pool floats, I think it’s the perfect opportunity.” 

He stood from his chair and clapped his hands together, leaving everyone else in utter confusion. “Armitage, would you please assist me in bringing some pool noodles and floats from the shed?” 

“What are you planning, Poe?” Hux questioned him skeptically. 

“Oh, you’ll see. Now don’t be a party pooper and come help!”

Hux got up from his and Rose’s chair reluctantly and followed Poe to the shed. A few minutes later, they emerged with six tube floats and at least eight pool noodles. 

Poe looked to the group left sitting in confusion and curiosity. “Follow me, kids! Someone bring their phone, too.” 

They each got up and followed him to the lap pool, some muttering in wonder of what Poe was about to do now, others (Ben) grumbling about how stupid Poe was.    
  


Once they got to the lap pool, they gathered around the lanes that Poe and Hux were in. Poe was sliding himself into each of the tube floats, and he was instructing Hux to tie the pool noodles around each of his limbs and torso. 

By the time they were ready to go, Poe looked like a distorted Michelin man and Hux looked like a very sour and reluctant participant in this game, covered in pool noodles. 

“I’ve always wanted to race in these! Ben or Rey, can one of you please do the honors?” 

Rey looked to Ben, who had a look of pure disappointment on his face, but she could read some amusement under the layers of stoic marble. 

He stepped forward, and Kaydel whipped out her phone to film. Everyone was buzzing with a mixture of giddy excitement at the childish nature of all of this and disbelief that it was actually happening. The lifeguards weren’t saying a thing to stop them, which Poe took as permission. 

Ben stood at the side of the pool as Poe and Hux stepped forward. “Take your marks.” 

They both tried to take their starting positions, but the various toys around their bodies made it difficult, leaving them in a funny position. 

“Go!” 

Poe and Hux flopped into the water and began swimming as fast as they could against their restraints. Everyone on deck erupted into cheers and giggles of glee. Even Ben looked amused and started cheering for his idiot friends.

Poe took the lead at the beginning, and for a while it looked like he would win, but in the last quarter of their race, Hux took back the lead and ended up out-touching him by almost a meter. 

They continued to cheer, and Rose was especially loud, giving her boyfriend a kiss as soon as he hopped out of the water. Finn walked over to Poe and gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. “You’ll get him next time.” 

Poe smiled at Finn, and suddenly pulled him in, planting a kiss on his cheek. The cheers died down quickly as everyone stood, staring at them in surprise. Poe looked back at them with an air of nonchalance. ‘What? We’ve been dating for like, the past three days. Where have you all been?”

Ben clapped him on the back. “Congrats, bud.”

Rey, Kaydel and Jannah went over to Finn, all in shock. 

“Finn! Why didn’t you tell us?” Kaydel squealed. 

Finn rubbed the back of his neck and looked to them bashfully. “It was just so new, and we weren’t even planning to tell people now, but I guess everyone knows now.” 

Rey smiled and pulled him into a hug. “We’re all happy for you, just a little surprised you didn’t say anything.”

He returned her hug and pulled Kay and Jannah in too. “I would’ve, I promise. I hope you guys don’t hate me.” 

They pulled out of the hug and Jannah pushed at his shoulder playfully. “We could never hate you, silly.” 

After the initial shock of the reveal of Poe and Finn’s relationship died down, they put their pool noodles and tube floats back into the shed and made their way to their chairs. 

That night, they all ended up hanging out until the pool closed. Rey was certainly apprehensive about the merging of her friend group with Ben’s, but after that night, she realized she had nothing to worry about. Rose was always sweet to her, and although Phasma seemed a little intimidating on the outside, she was really funny. Hux was hilarious when he spoke, which wasn’t super often, but his humor matched up with Rey’s beautifully. Poe was the hardest to get used to, especially with how loud he was, but Rey saw how happy he made Finn, and it automatically made her like him more. 

She could see herself getting used to nights like these. Just a bunch of stupid teenagers talking and splashing around at the pool, making fools of themselves and falling into side-splitting laughter over and over again. Surprisingly, Ben and she were able to stay friendly for the whole night, and a few times she would catch him staring at her. 

It was still confusing, all of these emotions that were building and cresting and flowing in and out of her, but when he looked at her like that, so full of warmth and genuine care, she found it harder and harder to pick out why exactly she hated him. 

They continued to lounge, occasionally jumping into the pool, for the whole night. At one point they played chicken, and she ended up on Ben’s shoulders. She would think about his strong arms wrapped around her calves, holding onto her so tightly she thought it would make a mark in her skin, for the rest of the week. 

It was one of the best nights of her life, even if she wouldn’t admit it to herself.

_ Would she ever admit the truth to herself? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She's still trying to figure her shit out but be patient with Rey y'all. 
> 
> Follow me on the bird app! [twitter](https://twitter.com/sweetsomethin_)
> 
> I love and appreciate every comment and kudo <3


	5. undercurrents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **"She thought she was safe to relax a bit more after ten minutes of waiting without so much as the sound of footsteps coming towards her, so she moved her right leg into a more comfortable position to avoid cramping.**
> 
> **That was her fatal mistake.**
> 
> **Before she knew it, two large hands were reaching into her bush, and she was being lifted into the arms of Ben Solo. She shrieked in shock as he maneuvered her so that he was carrying her bridal style. She lifted her arms up to wrap around his neck out of instinct, and she swore she could feel his heart beating too. There was a smugness in his eyes as he laughed heartily.**
> 
> **His arms were warm and strong around her back and under her legs. Despite the initial shock and the circumstances of their current situation, Rey had never felt safer than she did in the arms of Ben Solo.**
> 
> **That should have told her something, but whatever feelings she had about her relationship with Ben were being actively repressed."**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know it's been a HOT MINUTE, but I was on a hiatus for a month and could not find the mental capacity to write. This chapter, in particular, had me stuck, BUT the good news is, this one is EXTRA long. 
> 
> I'm going to try and get to updating this regularly, but I also now have seven other WIPS (including the textfic that I still haven't finished), and I'm starting school next week so I will do my best loves. 
> 
> ANYWAYS, please enjoy this chapter! A lot happens and it might be one of my favorite chapters yet. 
> 
> Playlist is here: [take a dive playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2F5e1k7PLFIrblgoA1BKSv)

Rey sat on the Organa-Solo’s couch that Friday evening, watching an episode of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” when Ben walked in and plopped down beside her. He was at least a foot away from her, but she could still feel heat radiating off of him. 

_ Fuck,  _ why _ did he have to be a human fucking furnace? _

She couldn’t focus on what was happening on screen anymore. That seemed to be a recurring pattern for her; the minute he would show up she would lose all control of her thoughts and her brain would focus on him instead. Instead of processing the catfights on screen, all she could think about was his large frame sitting so close to her yet so far away. She knew exactly how big his arms and legs were, and her mind couldn’t stop reeling at the thought of touching those arms and feeling the hardness of his muscles under her fingertips. She had a taste of it in the shed, but her body wanted  _ more.  _

_ What was  _ wrong  _ with her? She was supposed to hate him, not get turned on by him.  _

Before she could dwell on the implications of the new thoughts of him swirling through her head, Leia called out, announcing dinner was ready. 

Ben stood first and offered his hand to help her up from the couch. She hesitated; it wasn’t like they were best friends now or anything. They just made up  _ yesterday.  _ She was still confused about her feelings towards him. Rey was on a precipice. She knew that her feelings towards Ben were complicated, that much was clear to her. What she wasn’t sure of was whether she would run with it or run from it. 

In a split second, her body made the decision for her and she took his hand. He lifted her from the couch, and their eyes locked briefly. He looked down at her with an air of desperation in his gaze, and Rey quickly realized that they were close enough where she could reach out and brush her fingers over his lips if she wanted to. 

She wanted to. It was so odd, given how much he aggravated her, but despite herself, Rey wanted to kiss his lips. They were soft and pink, and now she knew how it felt to have them pressed against hers. She knew what his tongue felt like exploring her mouth. She knew what his hands felt like, how his fingers dug into her skin to the point where she almost bruised. 

Rey was all too aware of the enticing dichotomy of Ben Solo. All hard lines and chiseled features, but still soft in his words. His touch was much the same, one minute burning and harsh, and the next minute gentle and reverent. 

She broke eye contact and pulled her hand from his. “Thanks…”

He grinned at her, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah, no problem.” 

She briskly walked to the dining room, leaving Ben to follow in her wake. 

Rey sat in the seat across from Leia and Han, and Luke sat in the seat to her left. It was one of the rare nights where Maz didn’t come because she was working late, which left an empty seat to Rey’s right. To everyone’s surprise, Ben sat in the vacant chair next to her. 

The whole table was shocked into silence, but apparently Ben was oblivious to the tension in the room, because he began serving himself while everyone just stared at him in confusion. 

Luke cleared his throat to attract Ben’s attention, causing Ben to look up from his plate. 

“Since when did you two become friends?” He asked, a skeptic eyebrow raised in suspicion. 

Ben shrugged. “We’re trying something new. You wanted us to become civil. We worked things out in the shed, and now things are all good. The shed talk was very...interesting.” 

Rey choked on the water she was sipping at the mention of the shed incident and began coughing uncontrollably. 

Leia moved to help her, but Rey waved her off. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me. It just went down the wrong pipe,” she sputtered between coughs. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Rey could see Ben smirking over the rim of his own glass. 

_ He thought this was amusing. Two could play at that game.  _

Everyone began serving themselves, and as Rey reached for the broccoli she brushed her pinkie over the back of Ben’s hand, causing him to tense slightly. 

“Practice the other day was so  _ hard,  _ Luke. Every muscle hurt, like  _ every single one. _ ” Rey groaned lightly. 

She saw Ben tense further, his jaw was clenching slightly, and she knew he was thinking about  _ exactly  _ what she wanted him to be thinking about. She wanted to affect him as much as he affected her. 

Luke looked at her with a bit of worry in his eyes. “Did you stretch out afterwards?” 

Rey nodded and feigned her best tone of innocence while still maintaining an undercurrent of deviousness that she knew Ben would notice. “Yeah, of course. I did all of those thigh stretches you suggested. I was almost doing the  _ splits  _ at one point.”

She heard a small strangled noise escape Ben’s throat, and she did a celebratory dance in her head. 

_ Bingo.  _

Leia looked to her son with concern written over her face as he began coughing. 

“Ben? Are you okay? Do you need some water?”

He shook his head and brushed her off. “I’m fine, Mom.” He blew out a breath and wiped a bit of sweat from his brow. “It’s just a little hot in here.” 

“Oh dear, I hope you don’t have a fever. The air conditioning is on, there’s no reason for you to be hot. You have a meet tomorrow morning. It wouldn't be good if you were sick.”

Ben shook his head again. “I’m seriously fine, I just run warm.” 

Han looked between the two of them knowingly, but Leia was seemingly left oblivious to the tension between Ben and Rey. 

“Speaking of the meet tomorrow, it’s the first A meet of the season. Are you sure you’ll be okay without our help, Luke?” Rey asked, switching topics quickly so that no one else would catch on to this dangerous game of cat and mouse that she and Ben were playing. 

“No, the other coaches can handle it. It’s less kids to organize, and most of those kids are responsible enough to organize themselves anyways. They’re used to it since almost all of them swim club.” Luke looked up at her and Ben and pointed his fork in their direction. “If you two would like to help while you aren’t swimming, you can. I would rather have you focusing on your races so that we can get some good times from you both, and helping at A meets is not in your contracts.” 

Rey hummed in thought. “You’re right. I’ll still help lead cheers tomorrow, but I need to get better times than I did last week. I don’t think I can do that if I’m running around chasing kids down.” 

Ben nodded in agreement. “Same here.” 

Luke stuffed another piece of chicken into his mouth. “Alrighty then. You two should go and get some sleep soon. It’s a bright and early morning tomorrow.”

Her eyes rolled back involuntarily, like some kind of reflex. “Every morning is bright and early, Luke.” 

Surprisingly, Ben chuckled at that. It was the first time he had ever laughed at something she had said rather than laughing at her. It made her all jittery inside, and she wondered briefly if that was her new normal: feeling butterflies in her stomach because of Ben Solo. It was more than odd, it seemed  _ impossible,  _ and yet here she was, feeling utterly helpless to this attraction to him. She squashed down any thoughts of  _ more,  _ however, because the notion of being more than a coworker or friendly acquaintance to him was utterly  _ ridiculous.  _

_ Wasn’t it? _

Yes, she reasoned. It was. They just started being friendly to each other. She couldn’t risk that by adding feelings into the mix. This truce of theirs was still so fresh, so fragile. A wrong tap in one direction could send the whole thing crumbling to the ground. 

She had to maintain her distance from it and keep things purely at a level where neither of them would be in any risk of getting hurt, especially Rey. She had her heart and her sanity to think about, and Ben Solo was not good for either of those things. 

It’s what she would tell herself constantly until she believed it. 

_ Mostly.  _

____

Rey stormed up to her swim bag and threw her cap and goggles down in frustration. She sat at the picnic table that her friend’s had claimed earlier and dug the heels of her hands into her eyes, groaning in frustration. 

Rose was nearby and came over to see what was going on. “Rey? Are you okay?”

She groaned again. “No. I’ve been sucking so badly today. All of my times are shit.”

Rose sat beside her. “You won all of your races so far, though.” 

Rey shook her head in defeat. “The times matter more right now. If I’m gonna make it pro I need to be able to get better each week, not  _ worse. _ ”

She wanted to cry, but the overwhelming frustration she was experiencing prevented her from letting out how she was feeling about everything. Rey was definitely disappointed in herself, but it was more than that. The past few weeks had been so chaotic and confusing for her, and in the back of her mind she knew exactly why. 

_ It’s him. It’s always him.  _

She hated admitting it to herself, but Ben had started to permeate through her every waking thought. Even when she wasn’t actively thinking about him, somehow her mind was still preoccupied by him. It was maddening. 

If she was honest, she knew that her races had been less than stellar lately because she had been distracted by thoughts of Ben. It was a chaotic mix of wanting to slap him and wanting to kiss him again. Was she blaming him for her performance? Possibly. She was mostly blaming herself, though, for not being able to take control of her thoughts and just  _ focus.  _

She wanted to blame him fully. It would make things easier, because then she wouldn’t have to come to terms with the storm of Ben Solo that overran her mind. 

Rose pulled her from her musings with a warm and comforting hand on her thigh. “Rey, you’re being too hard on yourself. Do you think Olympians have perfect races every time? They have bad days too. You’re just in a bit of a funk, but you’ll snap back soon. I know we aren’t super close or anything, but I’ve practiced and raced with you for years. You’re the most dedicated athlete I’ve ever met. I’m sure you’ll figure out whatever is going on with you, and you’ll crush it next week.” 

It was the longest conversation that they had ever had alone, but just having Rose with her made Rey feel calmer. 

She wondered what would’ve happened if they had become friends earlier. Rose was a soothing presence, and while Rey’s friends were wonderful, she wouldn’t call any of them soothing. Kaydel was chaotic, Jannah was levelheaded, and Finn was sweet, and they were great at comforting her now, but it took them awhile to get there. 

Rose somehow knew how to help ease her nerves, and they barely knew each other. She was extremely perceptive, and if Rey had to guess, she would’ve guessed that Rose was an empath to some degree. 

“Thanks, Rose. You’re right. I just stress myself out and get in my own head a lot. It’s self sabotage at its finest.” 

The other girl smiled. “I’m gonna give you a hug now, if that’s okay.” 

Rey grinned at her and nodded, and in an instant, they were embracing. Rose was a very good hugger. It was firm but not suffocating, warm but not overbearing, and comforting but not in a way that made Rey feel childish. 

When they pulled back, Rose gave her a blinding grin and took her hand in both of hers. “If you ever need me, I’m here for you. Can I give you my number? Just in case you ever need it.” 

“Yes, that would be amazing. Thank you so much.” 

Rey pulled her phone out of her bag and handed it to Rose. She put her contact into her phone and set it back in Rey’s hand. 

“I’ve been meaning to tell you this, but never got a chance. If Ben ever gives you a hard time, just tell me. I can beat him up for you.” 

Rey giggled at the idea of such a small person standing against a human brick wall like Ben. “Thank you, but I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Ben and I are...well, we aren’t fighting anymore. We came to a sort of agreement.” 

Rose looked at her like she knew a secret that Rey didn’t, but as soon as the gears in Rey’s mind started turning, Rose schooled her expression to something more neutral. “You know, Ben may act like an ass and put on this whole brooding tough-guy facade, but underneath it all he’s a softie.” 

Rey nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I think I’m starting to break through the barriers.” A question that had always been in the back of Rey’s mind bubbled out before she could stop it. “How did you two become friends? You guys seem so...different.” 

“It’s a funny story, actually. Back in freshman year he was my fake boyfriend for a few months.” 

Rey’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened to an almost comedic size. “He was  _ what? _ ”

“We never did anything! It was completely for show. It started because his parents kept nagging him about never bringing any friends home, and I sat next to him in first period English. We had talked a few times before, but when he asked me it was still kind of shocking. We had planned to tell his parents we were just friends, but Leia assumed we were dating and Ben couldn’t find a chance to correct her.” Rose giggled a little as she recalled the whole fiasco. 

“It would’ve ended at that, but then Armie came into the picture. I wanted to get him to notice me, so I fake dated Ben to make him jealous. It turned into a huge mess because at some point Ben started crushing on Armie too, but he thought Ben and I were dating. It took three months for us to figure our shit out, but in the end Armie and I started dating. We’ve been together ever since, and Ben became friends with both of us through it.” 

Rey was a little stunned. It wasn’t what she expected at all. “What about Poe and Phasma?” 

“Oh them? It’s not quite as interesting. Poe and Ben were childhood friends. Their moms worked together or something, so they’ve known each other forever. Phasma and Hux have been friends since middle school. Phasma punched him once for being a dick, and they both got detention for it. They’ve been friends ever since.” 

Rey took a second to process everything Rose had just told her, and then when the absurdity of it all hit her, she started to laugh. Rose fell into a giggle fit with her, and soon the two girls were giggling together. 

She felt like a small weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. There was still a jumble of messy thoughts running around in the depths of her mind, but for now she wasn’t thinking about them. Rose had alleviated a lot of stress that Rey had been feeling for  _ weeks  _ in a matter of minutes. 

Rey didn’t do well on any of her other races that day. She gained time in every event, but she let Rose’s words from earlier help to calm her down each time she caught herself being too hard on herself. 

It wasn’t the end of the world. Rey started to see it as motivation to do better in her training and be better at the next meet. Her talk with Rose had literally turned her attitude upside down. 

She started believing that despite her races, today could be a good day. 

________

The annual swim team lock-in was that same night, and Rey had almost completely forgotten about it. 

If it weren’t for a text from Ben asking about if she was bringing a sleeping bag or not, she probably would’ve been late. Luckily, however, Rey managed to get her overnight bag packed and get to the pool with ten minutes to spare. 

Luke and Holdo were standing with a few parent volunteers and the other coaches in the grassy picnic table area when she arrived. It seemed that despite her early arrival, she was still the last one there. 

They were going over the rules for the night when she joined them, and Holdo gave her a warm smile. “Hi Rey. Glad you made it. We’re just making sure everyone is on the same page for tonight.” 

Rey nodded and stood beside Ben as Luke continued to explain what was expected of the evening ahead of them. 

“Watch out for alcohol, some of the older kids may try to sneak it in. We have a zero tolerance policy for that kind of behavior. They can be in the pool until 4 am but an adult has to be present and supervising the pool the whole time. This is supposed to be fun for the kids, but if there’s ever an issue with safety, that is our priority. It’s only for 11 and ups, so they should be pretty well behaved for the most part, but still be vigilant. Any questions?” 

Everyone shook their heads and Luke grinned. “Good, let’s let the kids in and we can get started!”

The parents and coaches all broke off to their own individual stations; the parents were mostly congregated on the hill, while the coaches were all gathered by the pool. Ben motioned for Rey to follow him into the guardhouse, and she followed cautiously. 

“I claimed the house for us, so the kids can’t get into our stuff.” He opened up the fridge and pulled out a Capri Sun, offering it to her. “I figured it would be nice to have some privacy.” He flashed her a grin as she took the drink and she smiled back at him, albeit a little confused. His seemingly sudden friendliness was a little off-putting. 

Rey opened up her juice box and took a sip. When she looked up at Ben, she caught him staring at her, and she blushed. “What?” She laughed breathily. 

Ben smiled and looked away bashfully. “It’s nothing…” 

She let out a small breathy chuckle. “Okay, weirdo.” 

When she finished the juice box, making sure to slurp up every last drop, Ben offered his hand to her. She didn’t know what he was doing, but her first instinct was to grab his hand. Her slim fingers wrapped around his large paw of a hand and he instantly started laughing. “No, silly. I was offering to throw that away for you.” 

She blushed and began to pull her hand away, but he tightened his grip around her fingers slightly and pulled her a little closer. “I don’t mind this, though.” 

Her blush intensified to something dangerous, and her face felt feverish. How could this boy get her so flustered so easily? It was a miracle that she hadn’t passed out yet. 

He took the juice box from her, releasing her hand from his grip, and threw it away in the trash can beside the fridge. She missed the warmth of his palm, but it wasn’t long before the tension in the room dissipated when Luke walked in. 

“Let’s get going, you two! Those kids are getting impatient out there and we need all hands on deck.” There was a knowing glint in his eyes as he looked between the two of them, but if Luke suspected anything he didn’t say so. They followed him out to the pool deck. Kids were already settling their sleeping bags and pillows on the lounge chairs and the air was practically vibrating with their excitement. 

Luke sat on one of the benches near the pool as kids began to jump into the pool and break off into their different friend groups. Some of the kids began lining up behind the diving boards, while others were content to simply hang out and talk in the shallower parts of the water. The lock-in had always been one of Rey’s favorite events of the season. The coaches were more lenient with the rules, and the parents tended to group up and gossip on the hill, so the kids were left with a whole night of minimal supervision and the freedom to have fun.

Rey watched as kids, every age from 11 to 18, did tricks and flips off of the diving boards. It was strange to be participating as a coach instead of a swimmer this year, but Luke had told her and Ben that they were free to participate in the activities if they wanted to. 

She didn’t notice that Ben had stripped down to his suit and jumped in line until she saw him stepping forward on the board. He started bouncing on the board, gaining speed and height with each bounce. In a blink of an eye he hopped off, high in the air, and did a double flip and rotation. Every single pair of eyes was on him, and the entire team and coaching staff watched in awe as he dove gracefully into the water following his little stunt. 

When he surfaced, kids began to cheer and clap, and he had an embarrassed grin on his face as he pushed his hair out of his face and climbed out of the pool. He walked over to Rey, hair and body still dripping with little water droplets. A thought crossed her mind about licking those droplets up, but she quickly pushed it away and focused on his face instead.

“That was incredible! Where did you learn how to do that?” She hadn’t realized that Bazine had crept over to where they were standing until that point, but an odd sensation passed through Rey’s body when she spoke to Ben, and it unsettled her. 

Ben shrugged and didn’t even turn to face her, his attention still vaguely directed at Rey. “I used to dive when I was younger, before I started swimming. It’s not a big deal.” 

Rey looked at him incredulously. “Not a big deal? That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen anyone do off of those rinky dink diving boards.” 

He smiled shyly and shrugged it off again, flashing a small bit of his teeth at Rey. She never noticed that they were slightly crooked, but she found it extremely endearing. It was another unique and very fitting aspect to him that just made him more intriguing. With each new discovery about him, she was finding it harder to remember why she ever disliked him. 

Bazine was about to say something more, Rey could tell by the way she started reaching for Ben’s arm, but Jyn called her over suddenly to help with grilling the burgers and hotdogs. She left reluctantly, leaving Rey and Ben alone again. 

Well, mostly alone. 

“Rey! Ben! You guys can go hop in the pool if you want. I can watch all of the kids from here and Amilyn is close by.” Luke called to them. 

“C’mon Rey, let’s go terrorize some kids.” Ben smirked at her, and her heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t say no to that. 

She stripped down into her suit and tossed her clothes in the guardhouse before walking back over to get in line for the diving board behind Ben. When it was her turn, she dove off the board elegantly and swam over to where Ben was wading in the water. 

They lost track of time as they swam and splashed around. Ben went around tossing some of the smaller kids up in the air, and Rey couldn’t help but giggle as they squealed in delight. She knew Ben was good with kids after working with him for the past few weeks, but watching him interact with them outside of practice or meets made her feel all fluttery inside. 

Before she knew it, Holdo was announcing that the burgers and hotdogs were ready, and all of the kids flocked to the picnic benches on the hill to get food. Sometimes the voracious appetites of kids scared her, but then again, Rey could eat an entire large pizza by herself and still be hungry afterwards, so she supposed she didn’t have much room to talk. 

The coaches were the last ones to get served food, and luckily they had just enough to ensure everyone who wanted food could have some. Luke had made sure to get turkey and veggie burgers as well, so no one was left out. 

Rey managed to smuggle herself two burgers and a bag of chips, and she was almost done with her first one when Ben plopped down beside her. If he noticed her second burger, he didn’t mention it. He simply smiled at her and started digging into his cheeseburger. 

They ate in silence, but to Rey’s surprise, she didn’t feel any sort of awkwardness between them. She felt completely comfortable, which wasn’t normal for her even when she was alone. 

She had finished her second burger and was about to dig into her chips when she looked over at Ben and noticed a bit of ketchup had dripped onto his chin. He was oblivious to it, which made Rey giggle softly, catching his attention. 

He looked over at her, utterly confused by her small outburst. “What?”

She shook her head teasingly and lifted her hand up to his face to wipe the ketchup away with her thumb. “It’s a miracle you’re able to dress yourself.” There was no real malice in her voice, and he smiled back at her, keeping eye contact as she reached for a napkin to clean her finger. She considered licking her thumb for a split second, but had to mentally chastise herself as soon as that thought flickered through her brain. 

_ What was wrong with her? Get it together, Rey.  _

The tension between them was so thick it would’ve fogged up car windows had they been inside of one. She thought that his eyes flicked down to her lips, but it was probably just in her imagination. He hadn’t mentioned wanting to kiss her or even hug her since the incident in the shed, but the thought of kissing him again still made her heart skip a beat. 

She had to get herself under control. They were just friends, and they had just become friends. She couldn’t do anything to jeopardize that. 

_____

Things picked up after dinner. Once everyone had given themselves enough time to digest their food, the kids launched straight into a game of manhunt. Rey and Ben didn’t initially participate, but Luke insisted that they had enough volunteers and coaches to cover the kids who decided to swim instead. 

The kids were split into two teams, a healthy mix of ages on both, and the boundaries were set. They ended up being placed on different teams, which Rey was perfectly okay with. She was feeling a little feisty today and wanted to get the chance to hunt him down. 

Ben’s team was the first to be designated the hunters, and they decided that jail would be the big tree on the Northeast corner of the pool grounds. Once everyone was ready and the rules were outlined one more time, the countdown to run and hide began. 

Rey sprinted towards the volleyball court as soon as the other team began counting. There was a small alcove past the court that was well hidden due to the lack of light in that particular area of the pool grounds. She ducked into a bush that was also hidden by a small rockwall and started to slow her breathing down. The calmer she could be, the less likely it would be that anyone would find her. Her heart was still beating out of her chest, but her breath had evened out into something undetectable to human ears. 

She thought she was safe to relax a bit more after ten minutes of waiting without so much as the sound of footsteps coming towards her, so she moved her right leg into a more comfortable position to avoid cramping.

That was her fatal mistake. 

Before she knew it, two large hands were reaching into her bush, and she was being lifted into the arms of Ben Solo. She shrieked in shock as he maneuvered her so that he was carrying her bridal style. She lifted her arms up to wrap around his neck out of instinct, and she swore she could feel his heart beating too. There was a smugness in his eyes as he laughed heartily. 

His arms were warm and strong around her back and under her legs. Despite the initial shock and the circumstances of their current situation, Rey had never felt safer than she did in the arms of Ben Solo. 

That should have told her something, but whatever feelings she had about her relationship with Ben were being actively repressed. 

She let out a breathy giggle, still a little out of breath from the exhilaration of being caught. 

“You got me, Ben. You can put me down now.” Her body protested the thought even as the words left her lips, but her rationality won out. 

He smirked down at her and began walking up to the tree. “Nah, I’m good. I like carrying you like this.” His expression turned slightly worried. “Unless you don’t want me to carry you, if you don’t want me to I can put you down because I don’t want to do anything you’re uncomfortable with and-”

“It’s fine, Ben. It’s actually kind of nice.”

He visibly relaxed and continued his trek to the tree jail. 

Rey could get used to this, if it was even a possibility, but she knew that this bubble of good feelings would pop soon enough and they would be back to passing interactions or light banter. This intensity would break as soon as they had to go back to working together on Monday. 

_____

A jam session went into full swing a couple of hours after manhunt ended. Jyn and Cassian helped the kids make s’mores over the hot coals of the grill, and Luke whipped out his guitar. Some of the kids opted to go back in the pool or go chill in their lounge chairs. Rey and Ben took the opportunity and snuck over to the guardhouse to hide out for the rest of the night. It was already 2 in the morning, and Rey could feel her brain start to shut down as each minute ticked past. 

Rey flicked the lights on and settled onto the couch once they were safely inside, while Ben grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge, handing her one as he sat down beside her. 

She sipped her water in silence for a bit, not really sure what to say to him. Things had definitely been different between them today, but she didn’t know how to interpret any of it. She didn't have to think long about what to say to him, however, because he beat her to the punch. 

“How long do you think this couch has been in here?”

“I’m not sure, why?” It was an odd question, but Rey figured he was going somewhere with it, hopefully. 

“It’s pretty gross, I won’t lie to you. I’m gonna have to scrub really well tomorrow when I get home after sleeping on this for the night.” 

She laughed in agreement and looked at the upholstery a little more closely. “I wonder how many people have had sex on this thing.”

“Yuck, Rey, that's not something I need to be thinking about before sleeping on it.” He chuckled and shook his head as if trying to get the image out of his mind. 

Rey giggled and threw her hands up in defense. “I’m just saying! The guards at this pool are horny and bored.”

They laughed together until it began to fade back into silence. Rey looked over at him and smiled warmly, trying to send her affection for him over telepathically. 

“Today was really fun. I’m glad I finally got to see the fun, carefree side of Ben Solo.” 

He scoffed lightly and smirked. “I’m always fun and carefree, you’re just always in too sour of a mood to see it.” 

She pushed his shoulder lightly and laughed. She’d never laughed this much in one night with anyone before, and the fact that it was Ben Solo making her laugh terrified her to no end. She pushed all her worries away for the time being, wanting to be completely present during this time with Ben. 

“I’m only sour with you, Mr. Hotshot. You just know how to push my buttons a little too well.” 

He shrugged and smirked. “You’re pretty easy to read. It wasn’t hard to figure it out.”

“I didn’t know you were paying that much attention.” 

“I’m always paying attention when it comes to you.” He was looking straight in her eyes, and if Rey had the capacity to read subtext she probably would’ve been able to understand what he was trying to convey there, but her brain was close to short circuiting. 

She looked away and blushed slightly, trying not to let him see how he affected her. “Um...anyways…”

“Wanna play a game?” His suddenness startled her a little, but she was grateful for the change in topic. 

“What kind of game?”

“Truth or dare?” He immediately looked nervous at his own suggestion. “Unless that’s too childish, then we can play something else or we don’t have to play anything at all we can just talk or sit or-”

“Okay. Truth or dare?” His nervous rambling was adorable, but Rey didn’t want to torture the poor guy.

“Truth.”

“Ah, so you’re one of those people that starts out with truth. Lame,” she teased. 

He rolled his eyes and leaned back into the couch as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Just ask me something.” 

“Okay, okay. Who was your first kiss?”

Ben’s lips turned up in amusement. “Oh, that’s a funny story. It was Hux.”

“I’m sorry, what?!” Her jaw dropped in an almost comical manner, and her eyes were the size of dinner plates. 

“Yeah, there was this three month period where Rose and I fake dated, and we both ended up liking him. Well, Hux and I dated for like a week during that whole mess, but we figured out pretty quickly that we are not compatible on that kind of level. We work much better as friends. Afterwards, I set him and Rose up.”

“I didn’t know Hux was your type.” 

“He’s not, hence why we are no longer a couple.” He looked over at her and smiled, a hint of mischief glinting in the light of his eyes. “My turn. Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

Ben turned his body slightly so that his chest was facing her. “Okay...I dare you to tell me who your first kiss was.” 

“Hey, that’s not how this works!” 

“I said dare didn’t I?” He was smirking, and she knew he was messing with her again. 

Rey shook her head and looked at him incredulously. “We both know it’s not the same thing.” 

“Are you going to answer or am I going to have to throw you in the pool?” He would do it too, without hesitation and without difficulty. His arms weren’t extremely bulky, but he had lean muscle on every portion of his body that had built up over his years of training. She knew that throwing her in the pool would be amusing for him too, and since there was no real danger in it, he would do it in a heartbeat to get a good laugh out of it. 

She huffed in annoyance and conceded. “Alright, fine. It was a boy named Snap Wexley. We were 13 and we snuck behind a dumpster near our middle school. He tried to tongue me so I punched him, and he wouldn’t so much as look at me at school the next day. Satisfied?”

“Absolutely.” He licked his lips and hummed thoughtfully as he looked out the window. “That’s such a Rey thing to do.”

“I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or an insult, but thank you?”

“It’s a compliment, Rey.” His brow knit slightly as he contemplated what to say next, and when he looked up at her there was nothing but pure warmth and admiration directed at her. “You’re so strong and brave, and it’s really inspiring. You don’t take shit from anyone. It’s something I’ve always really admired about you.” 

She sucked in a quiet breath.“Really?”

“Yeah. You’re pretty amazing, Rey. On top of being kind and caring with everyone you meet, regardless of if they’re a stranger or not, you are also so incredibly talented. You make swimming look effortless. There’s this gracefulness to the way you move through the water that most Olympians will never be able to achieve.”

She was blushing profusely now, and she had to look away from him to keep from bursting into flames. “Thanks, that means a lot coming from you.”

“Hmm? Why me?” 

“Well, you’re Ben Solo. You’re the golden boy. Swimming is literally in your blood. It’s basically like breathing for you at this point. You can do no wrong in the eyes of the people.” 

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “If I’m being honest...I don’t see it like that. I’ve-” Ben took a deep breath to ground himself. “I’ve struggled a lot to get to this point. It took a lot of fighting and making up with my parents and with Luke.”

“My childhood wasn’t a bad one by any means, but my parents were never home. I started training under Luke when I was six. My parents needed something for me to do to keep myself busy while they were off working, so they put me on a club team.” She could see the deep-seated pain from years of emotional neglect. Rey knew Leia and Han were not perfect parents. Leia had told her about parts of Ben’s childhood, but it was always bits and pieces and none of those pieces ever came from Ben’s perspective. 

He looked at her nervously, and she nodded, signaling him to continue. “The first few years were great. Swimming helped me take my mind off of the anger that had been a pretty constant presence in my mind. Eventually, though, Luke started singling me out at practices, and one day he pushed me to my limit.” 

Ben took a deep breath and bit his lip, hesitating to tell her the rest. “It was when I was in my first year of Advanced Juniors, I was 11. We got into a huge fight on deck. He was lecturing me about not trying hard enough on a set, in front of everyone, and I snapped. I tried to just leave, but he stopped me and kept lecturing me, so I punched him.”

Rey could see how much the memories hurt him. She didnt want to push him, but she did want him to continue, so she placed a comforting hand on his arm. He didn’t flinch away, which she took as a good sign.

“I stopped training with him. I hopped around teams for a bit before coming back to First Order, but when I came back I trained under Snoke.” The mention of his coach made him visibly tense up, but Rey just kept her hand on his arm to try and remind him that she was there for him. 

“I remember the years where you weren’t training at First Order. I thought it was weird, but we weren’t friends so I didn’t ask when I saw you in the summertime.” They both shifted a little to face each other more directly. 

He nodded. “Yeah. I was having a really tough time for a while there. My parents and I were fighting a lot, I was getting into fights at school, and I was starting to burn out. I was going to just quit altogether.”

“What stopped you?”

Ben looked up at her and smiled softly. “You did.” 

“Me?” 

He nodded. “Mmhmm, you. You pranced up onto that pool deck like you owned it, and nine year old me was absolutely mesmerized. When I left First Order, I tried to forget about you, but I couldn’t. When I rejoined, all of those memories of you came flooding back. There was obviously some jealousy involved when you started getting close with my parents and uncle, but the older I got the more I realized how perfectly you fit there. With us, I mean.” 

She smiled, but tried to ignore the underlying implications of what he was saying. Getting her hopes up about him would just lead to disappointment and heartbreak, and that was the last thing she needed. “I really love your family. Between you guys and Maz I feel like I finally belong somewhere. I feel like I’m allowed to take up space without judgement for once.”

“Feel free to take up space anytime, Rey. I like it when you take up space...especially when you sprawl out on our couch and fall asleep. You snore, but it’s cute.” 

“I don’t snore!” 

He smirked knowingly. “Yes, you do. It’s pretty loud, too.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to look menacing. “That’s a lie, sir.”

“Record yourself next time you fall asleep. If you can hear yourself snoring, you owe me.” Ben raised one of his eyebrows, challenging her. 

“What? Like money? I’m broke.” 

“No, that’s not exactly what I was thinking.” His eyes drifted down to her lips briefly. Maybe he thought she hadn’t caught it, but she certainly did. Her arms dropped down to her sides again and she swallowed heavily. 

“Um, anyways...truth or dare?”

_____

They talked for hours after that. She told him about her childhood, about how growing up in the foster care system in England was very rough. She told him about Unkar Plutt, her caretaker right before she was adopted by Maz, and about how vile he was. He never hit her or abused her, but he certainly didn’t try and actually attend to her needs. It was one of the reasons she valued food so much. He forgot to feed her so often that she would go multiple nights in a row on an empty stomach. 

She also told him about how much swimming meant to her when she finally moved to the states. The water was a comfort for her after so many years of living in a desert. Rey was a fish out of water her whole life, and finding the sport of swimming helped her finally feel like she was in her element. 

He told her different stories, mostly about the weird shit him and his friends would get into. They talked about his childhood a little, but it was obviously a sore subject, so Rey didn’t push him too much. 

They spent the night laughing together, and Rey quickly realized how comfortable she felt around him. It was easy to talk to him, and eventually they fell asleep on the couch together, not even bothering with their sleeping bags or pillows. 

Rey woke up first the next morning. It still wasn’t time for the swimmers to be picked up, as evidenced by all of the kids still sleeping on the lounge chairs outside, but Rey wasn’t exactly sure what time it was. It took her a minute to adjust to her surroundings, but when her brain caught up to her body, she noticed a very large, very warm body pressed against her. 

She looked back behind her to see the sleeping form of Ben Solo. His arm was wrapped around her waist, and his chest rose and fell evenly against her back. Their legs were tangled up, and Rey could feel something hard and thick prodding at her lower back. She blushed and tried to get her mind out of the gutter, but it was difficult when a very prominent reminder was quite literally poking at her. 

Despite the uncomfortable situation  _ down there,  _ Rey found that she didn’t mind being in Ben’s arms. In fact, she actually really enjoyed it. She felt safe and warm, and it wasn’t an uncomfortable kind of warm. Normally she hated having another person’s body heat pressed into her, but despite Ben’s unnaturally high resting body temperature, it didn’t make her feel sweaty or stifled at all. It was more like an all over glow, like the sun was beaming down on her and showering her in kisses that bloomed and spread to every curve of her skin. 

As she relaxed further into his arms, she reaffirmed to herself that it meats nothing. There were no feelings involved in this situation. They were just friends, and they just became friends. She told herself that he doesn’t feel anything of the sort for her, that he was more than happy to just be friends. 

Involving feelings meant opening her heart up to another person, and the idea of doing that terrified her. It would mean giving a piece of her heart away and entrusting that person to keep it safe. From her experiences, she had learned that no one ever kept those pieces safe. Eventually, everyone would leave her, and they would shatter each piece of her heart in the process.

If she let enough people in, eventually she wouldn’t have a heart left. Just an empty space where it used to be. One thing she had learned to do in her lifetime was protect her heart, because no one else would. 

That’s why she reaffirmed that nothing could ever come from this. No matter what kind of connection she felt with Ben, she couldn’t let him take a piece of her heart away. 

As she fell back asleep, still wrapped in his arms, she kept repeating the same thing in her head over and over. 

_ We’re just friends.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rey's gonna wisen up soon I promise, but the poor baby has been through a lot so she's gotta protect her heart. 
> 
> Follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/arrum_rose)
> 
> I love and appreciate every single comment and kudo even if I don't respond to every single one!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> Comments and Kudos are HIGHLY appreciated! 
> 
> Follow me on Twitter! I follow back :) twitter


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